Page 12 monday, september 24, 2012
daily townsman / daily bulletin
NEWS/features
Doctors nix backyard trampolines Sheryl Ubel acker Canadian Press
TORONTO — Just as kids love to bounce on beds, they are also drawn to the joy of jumping on trampolines — a pastime that has likely become more popular since Canadian Rosie MacLennan clinched gold in the Olympic version of the sport. But doctors warn that backyard and other recreational trampolines pose a significant risk of injury, especially to younger children. In an updated policy statement issued Monday, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) “strongly discourages’’ the use of recreational trampolines, either at home or in commercial indoor parks that feature the highflying gymnastics equipment. In January, the Canadian Paediatric Society reaffirmed a similar position statement last issued in 2007. “The key thing is that three-quarters of injuries occur when there are multiple users on the mat,’’ said Dr. Michele LaBotz, co-author of the AAP statement. “And you see that all the time: adults like to be on the trampoline, bouncing with the kids,’’ LaBotz said from Portland, Me., where she
practises pediatric sports medicine. “And especially when you get those disparate sizes — you get a real big person and a real small person — the small person is much more likely to get injured, 14 times more likely to get injured. “And the injury sustained by a smaller person is much more likely to be severe. So in children less than the age of five, for instance, their rate of fractures and dislocations is 48 per cent.’’ Injuries can range from broken wrists, dislocated shoulders and sprained ankles to severe head and neck trauma. About one in 200 trampoline injuries leads to permanent neurological damage, a U.S. study in 2000 found. One injury unique to trampoline use is a form of broken leg called a proximal tibia fracture that is primarily seen in children under age six, she said. “Most of them have occurred on the trampoline with older folks. One principle a lot of us kind of overlook when we think about the trampoline is that most injuries actually occur on the centre mat itself. “If you get an adult who’s about 170 pounds bouncing with a kid who’s 40 to 50 pounds, the recoil of the mat, when that kid lands —
Photo courtesy Wikipedia
The American Academy of Pediatrics is warning that backyard and other recreational trampolines pose a significant risk of injury, especially to younger children. and especially if he’s not landing right — he generates about the same amount of force as if he went from nine feet (three metres) onto a hard surface. “And you don’t think of that because the mat’s kind of soft and bouncy,’’ LaBotz said. That means that netting around a trampoline, aimed at stopping a jumper from falling off the equipment, or protective coverings on the surrounding springs, will not prevent about two-thirds of injuries, which occur on the cen-
tral mat. Head and neck injuries most often result from a failed flip or airborne somersault on the trampoline, she said. “So that’s why we have such a strong recommendation against that particular stunt.’’ Almost 98,000 trampoline-related injuries are estimated to have occurred in the U.S. in 2009, the latest year for which statistics are available, down from a high of more the than 109,500 in 2006. In Canada, 4,247 cases of trampoline in-
juries were reported over the five most recent years of data. That figure does not represent all such injuries in Canada, but only those treated in the emergency departments of 15 hospitals in the Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP). More than 40 per cent of injuries involved children aged five to nine, and more than eight per cent of all those injured had to be hospitalized. Between 2005/06 and 2009/2010, the rate of trampoline
injuries almost doubled in Canada, CHIRPP found. Lower limbs were the most frequently injured (43 per cent), followed by the upper extremities (36 per cent) and the head, face and neck (15 per cent). Overall, fractures accounted for 43.5 per cent of all injuries, while about three per cent involved brain trauma. In the U.S., the number of trampoline injuries started declining in 2007, though it’s not clear why, LaBotz said. One theory is that children and teens began spending more time on computers. With the societal push to get kids more physically active due to the growing childhood obesity epidemic, some parents may see the trampoline as a fun way to get kids moving. LaBotz said backyard trampolines are marketed as “play toys or playground types of equipment,’’ with pictures of children, and even a whole family, all bouncing together. “And parents are struggling now to pull their kids away from the computer and the video games. And it’s easy to see how it might seem like a good, fun, relatively inexpensive thing to do. “But it’s not.’’
The emergence of trampoline as a competitive sport — it was added to the Summer Olympics in 2000 — has also likely driven its popularity as a recreational activity. David Ross, MacLennan’s coach at Skyriders Trampoline Place in Richmond Hill, Ont., north of Toronto, acknowledged that backyard trampolines are fun for kids. But he advised parents to treat the bouncy platforms the same way as they would a swimming pool, making sure the yard is enclosed by a fence and that the equipment is used properly. “I’m not saying it’s a bad thing to have a backyard trampoline; it’s certainly better to exercise than not to exercise,’’ he told The Canadian Press. “But it does give the sport a bad name because there are so many people doing unsupervised, maybe stupid things on their backyard trampolines. “The biggest danger of any trampoline is if you land upside-down. So if you’re on a backyard trampoline that doesn’t allow you to jump very high, you probably shouldn’t be doing flips. Or if you do them, you should have learned how to do them first somewhere.’’
Feds revamp Laura Secord image for 1812 promo Mark Brownlee Postmedia News
OTTAWA - Federal government officials decided against using a historical image of War of 1812 icon Laura Secord in favour of creating a “younger” version commemorate the conflict’s 200th anniversary this year, newly disclosed records show. Secord has played a prominent role in events the government is holding to educate Canadians about what happened during the war, which pitted the United States against Britain in a battle to control territory that is now Canada. The first drafts of the campaign featured a portrait of Secord alongside three other figures from the war and “1812” inside a maple leaf. The words “The fight for Canada” appear at the bottom in French and English.
She has a bow tucked just underneath her collar and is wearing what appears to be a shawl over her hair. Her face appears to be wrinkled. The officials instead commissioned a line drawing from an artist that showed Secord with hair flowing down the back of her head and a dress that shows more of her neck. “I think this addresses the younger version of ... Laura Secord that was requested,” wrote Anne-Sophie Lawless, the director of creative solutions and outreach with the Department of Canadian Heritage’s communications branch, in an email on July 26, 2011. The email, one of several documents obtained by the Citizen under the Access to Information Act, doesn’t make clear from whom the request came. The final version that ap-
Postmedia News
Federal government officials decided against using a historical image of War of 1812 icon Laura Secord in favour of creating a younger version to commemorate the conflict’s 200th anniversary this year, newly disclosed records show. peared in the government’s promotional materials for the commemoration portrays Secord with a brightened, unlined face and brown hair on the top of her head with no covering. The images of the other three figures — Maj. Gen. Sir Isaac Brock, native war chief Tecumseh and Lt.-Col. Charles-Michel d’Irumberry de Salaberry — all appear to be the same as in the original
shown in the documents. Two of them came from Library and Archives Canada, the emails note, meaning they are likely historical documents. Canadian Heritage officials made the decision because they could not find an image of “suitable quality” for their requirements, wrote Len Westerberg, spokesman for the department, in an emailed response to ques-
tions. They needed “high resolution images, in a large format.” Officials spiked others because they couldn’t find their copyright holders. Secord is best known for the roughly 30-kilometre journey she made in 1813 to warn Canadian forces of an impending attack by American soldiers, according to the Canadian Heritage website. First Nations warriors, who
were fighting alongside the British, ambushed the Americans two days later and forced them to surrender. She was in her late 30s at the time, making the younger version of her portrayed in the promotional material appear a little closer to the age she was when the event took place. This isn’t the first time the image of Secord has been changed. The most recognizable portrait of her is the logo for the Canadian-based chocolate company with which she shares her name. The company replaced the older-looking version of her with a younger one in the middle of the last century, then changed it again along similar lines in the 1990s. The Canadian government has been holding events throughout the year to mark the war’s anniversary