An 11-year-old girl is recovering at the Regina General Hospital, after she broke her ankle in two places following a trampoline accident in her backyard on Tuesday.
“I was on the trampoline with one of my best friends and we were bouncing around and I got double bounced and I landed on my ankle the wrong way,” Jaylee Babey said.
When her mother, Ashley Babey, purchased the trampoline three years ago, she says injuries weren’t at the top of her mind.
“When I was growing up there were no nets and half the time the padding around the springs weren’t there,” Babey said. “Most of the injuries were from falling off the trampoline or goofing around.”
Adding, with the netting, both Jaylee and Babey thought they were taking extra precautions.
“Usually when people break something they’re fooling around, or trying to do tricks up in the air, but this is just something that you don’t predict,” Jaylee said.
Between 2017 and 2018, 426 people under the age of 20 visited an emergency department in Saskatchewan with trampoline-related injuries.
According to the Saskatchewan Prevention Institute, of those injuries, 45 per cent were considered significant.
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“These were for injuries such as serious breaks, head and neck injuries, severe sprains and then of course there were more minor injuries like cuts and bruises,” said Jody Shynkaruk, Saskatchewan Prevention Institute program manager.
As a result, Shynkaruk says trampolines shouldn’t be seen as playground equipment.
“Based on recommendations from the Canadian Paediatric Society, we would recommend that parents look for other fun ways to exercise rather than trampolines,” Shynkaruk said.
But if parents do decide to buy trampolines, Shynkaruk explains there are basic guidelines to follow.
“We recommend that children under the age of six don’t use them at all. Just given their bone strength and their muscle strength, they are a lot more prone to serious injuries,” Shynkaruk said.
“We also recommend that only one person jump on the trampoline at a time, that there’s adequate supervision and not to jump on a trampoline with other objects.”
It’s a cautionary tale Babey is now sharing with others as Jaylee faces a long road ahead after already undergoing one surgery.
“She’s going to be in the cast for six weeks or so and then she has to have another surgery to remove the pins and then its going to be another year of surgeon follow-ups, physio therapy and just learning how to basically walk again,” Babey said.
Even when she’s back on her feet, the soon-to-be seventh grader says trampolines aren’t in her future.
“I don’t have any hope for that anymore,” Jaylee said.
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