'My bone was 3 inches out of my leg': Injuries prompt call for indoor trampoline park regulation in Sask.

Emergency room staff at Saskatoon hospitals started to notice a trend in 2015 after the city's first indoor trampoline park opened its doors.

That year, doctors tracked an increase in emergency room visits for sprains and broken bones, primarily among children and teens.

The spike eventually tapered off, said Dr. Julie Kryzanowski, lead researcher and a senior medical health officer with the Saskatchewan Health Authority.

"We did see a spike in trampoline-related fall injuries," she said. "Falls are the number one cause of injuries in children."

'My bone was three inches out of my leg'

It's not just children getting hurt.

Kirstin Haverstock will never forget her 26th birthday. To celebrate, she and friends rented a dodgeball court at a trampoline park east of Regina.

Within eight minutes of signing the waiver, Haverstock planted her left foot on a ball and shattered her tibia.

"I was an athlete and I was in really good shape and I never thought I would get injured," she said.

"I heard a snap and I put my hand down and my bone was three inches out of my leg."

The former dancer and runner spent seven hours in surgery to fix a compound tibia plateau fracture, along with damage to her meniscus and a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

She spent the next six months in a brace, and will likely never run again.

"Every time I'd go for X-rays the technicians would say, 'Oh my god, you're the third person today that hurt themselves at Boomers or Get Air,' " Haverstock said.

Boomers has since shut its doors. No one from Get Air has returned CBC's calls.

Saskatoon trampoline park cites lower-than-average injury rates

The co-owner of Saskatoon's Apex Trampoline said on average, indoor trampoline parks in North America see 2.7 injuries for every 1,000 hours people jump. 

Luke Shaheen said injuries are defined as anything that sidelines a person from jumping, whether it be a broken bone, a sprain, or a simple bump or bruise.

"We haven't noticed a trend or a spike in previous times or now," said Shaheen, whose company also operates a facility in Richmond, B.C . "We've done better than what some of the industry averages are."

Still, Shaheen and his partner said they've been asking Saskatchewan's government to regulate trampoline parks and make safety standards legally binding.

No regulations, no inspections

In an e-mail, officials at Saskatchewan's Technical Safety Authority told CBC trampolines do not fall under amusement ride safety regulations, noting they were "not sure what department this would fall under."

Staff at the parks must follow occupational health and safety rules. Still, "there are no jurisdictions in Canada that we are aware of that have government oversight or regulatory frameworks regarding trampoline parks," said officials at the Ministry of Government Relations, in an e-mail.

Shaheen said he hopes the province adopts rules set out by the International Association of Trampoline Parks, noting his facilities won IATP's leadership award last month.

He said trampolines do carry a degree of risk, but he keeps children under 6 away from older jumpers and ensures staff supervise what's happening on the trampolines closely.

"The regulations have been established and need to be adopted," said Shaheen. "That's something we're really pushing for and we've been working on for a long time."

Children hurt at indoor parks more likely to be admitted to hospital

Pediatricians have long said trampolines are unsafe and carry injury risks similar to snowboarding or downhill skiing.

Last year, the Canadian Paediatric Society said children are more likely to require hospitalization for injuries sustained at indoor trampoline parks, compared to backyard trampolines.

Doctors said the high tensile strength of springless trampolines at indoor facilties make a double bounce feel much harder than what jumpers may anticipate. 

Adding stunts, flips, multiple jumpers or ball sports to trampolines increases the potential for injuries, particularly for children between 5 and 14 years old.

Trampoline injuries sent 433 people to Saskatchewan hospitals last year

One Saskatoon pediatrician told CBC her daughter was double-bounced by another parent at Apex last year. The girl landed on a hard platform, fracturing her femur.

"I knew better," the pediatrician told CBC. "It's extra awful I even let her go to that birthday."

Her daughter was one of 433 people who visited emergency departments in Saskatchewan last year, after being hurt on a trampoline.

"I'm not surprised in the least bit," said Kirstin Haverstock, who spent a year doing physiotherapy up to five times a week to heal her fractured tibia before she could attempt a spin class.

"I'm actually surprised [trampoline parks] are still allowed to run with the amount of injuries they've had there," Haverstock said.

The Saskatchewan Prevention Institute said it tries to encourage active play, but it noted Saskatchewan sees more trampoline injuries per capita than Alberta does.

"The use of backyard trampolines and indoor trampoline parks will not decrease, said Cara Zukewich, of the Saskatchewan Prevention Institute.

She said children under five should not be on trampolines and even backyard safety nets offer little protection.

"Children try riskier stunts with a net," Zukewich said. "Also EMS takes longer to extricate children from them."