I have been considering getting a trampoline for years, but my physician husband told me that they were just too dangerous and preferred not to get one. In fact, the official position from the American Academy of Pediatrics  (AAP) is that they advise against the use of recreational/ backyard trampolines. They created a policy statement in 2012 with statistics on injuries and hospital visits by children, which paint quite a dark picture of trampoline use.

“Pediatricians need to actively discourage recreational trampoline use,” said Michele LaBotz, MD, FAAP, co-author of the updated policy statement. “Families need to know that many injuries occur on the mat itself, and current data do not appear to demonstrate that netting or padding significantly decrease the risk of injury.”

I hung my head in defeat and kept talking to the children about why we were going to be the “only family ever” (their words) to not have a trampoline. I was okay with that if it meant keeping them out of the emergency room.

But then things changed! 

In the last few years I started to see Springfree Trampolines showing up in neighbourhood backyards. When family members and two friends who are doctors — one of whom is an ER physician — got one, I thought we might be okay to look at this new thing.

I found the word “safety” in the menu of the website and read through all the information about how the technology puts the springs under the matting, thereby reducing the three major impact zones that exist on traditional trampolines: 1) the springs, 2) the steel frame, and 3) the ground.

The statistics collected by the physician organizations, which were included in their official recommendations was done in 2012: before this new style of trampoline was invented. I hope there is new data collected now that this different style of trampoline is here.

Another factor was making itself clear that increased my desire to get a trampoline: one of my children is kinda like a border collie who can run ALL DAY. He’s just a young guy, but we biked for an hour, played at a playground for another hour, then biked the hour back to our house only to be asked after supper, “Can I bike some more?” He is constantly asking me to play with him or take him to find some buddies who are able to play. I’m hoping a trampoline will use up at least some of his endless energy.

After looking through the website information, talking to my physician friends who have this kind of trampoline, and finally being begged to go running with my son one too many times, we made the decision to get one for our family.

I know that injuries might still happen, but we’ve talked with our children about the things they can do to reduce the risk as much as possible. We added the basketball hoop so for the time being they seem more focused on jumping high to get the ball in than doing tricks. Just like other sports we do like downhill skiing and cycling, we’ve decided to protect ourselves as much as we can and weigh the risk against the reward (hours and HOURS of fun).

We got the trampoline two weeks ago and paid to have it installed professionally because I heard it’s doable to figure out but very worth the money to have them put it together for us (that was good advice). It is still early but so far this trampoline has brought a great deal of fun into our lives.

The picture at the top of the post is actually me on the trampoline. I admit that I love it as much as my children do.

What have you decided about this new style of trampolines? Do you have one? Please do comment here or over on my Facebook page.