Father’s warning to trampoline owners as his 11-year-old son is left bleeding and screaming in pain after spring ‘snaps and rockets into his back at high speed’
- Dave O’Leary heard Cam, 11, cry out in agony while playing outside
- Mr O’Leary believes a spring sheared and was catapulted towards his son
A father is warning parents to regularly check their garden trampolines after his son was injured by what he believes was a spring snapping and striking the boy’s back ‘at high speed’.
Dave O’Leary heard 11-year-old Cam cry out in agony and rushed over to find blood soaking into the child’s t-shirt at their home in Lowestoft, Suffolk on April 29.
Mr O’Leary believes the spring sheared and was catapulted towards his son, with the broken side spearing into his body.
‘Cam yelped and I looked over to see him holding his back and glaring at his brother Axl – as Cam had assumed his younger brother had accidentally hit him with the tennis racket he was playing with,’ said Mr O’Leary, an electrician.
‘It was then that I saw blood coming through his t-shirt. Upon lifting his shirt it was clear he had been struck by something. It only then became apparent the spring had snapped and fired at him.’
Dave O’Leary heard 11-year-old Cam cry out in agony and rushed over to find blood soaking into the child’s t-shirt at their home in Lowestoft, Suffolk on April 29
He took a photo of Cam’s t-shirt, showing how blood had poured out of the wound.
The 10ft Sportspower trampoline was bought in late May 2018, meaning it was less than five years old when the spring broke last month.
After inspecting it, Mr O’Leary came to the conclusion that the spring had fractured previously and repeated use caused it to come loose, before it was wrenched out as Cam jumped on the trampoline.
Pictured: David O’Leary
‘Once the spring broke loose it must have rotated 180 degrees as the razor-sharp fractured end is clearly what hit him,’ he added.
‘To prevent this from happening ever again, I will inspect every spring regularly and replace any worn springs.
‘I would encourage anyone to do the same, as I would hate to read of another child being harmed in this way.’
US firm Sportspower has been contacted for a comment.
In a warning to other parents on Facebook on April 29, Mr O’Leary wrote: ‘Please check all your trampoline springs!
‘Today while my child was bouncing on our six year old trampoline one of the springs worn through so much it snapped and rocketed into the back of my him at high speed.
‘It caused a fair bit of damage and there was blood everywhere – it could’ve been so much worse so now we’re ordering a new set of springs.
Mr O’Leary believes the spring sheared and was catapulted towards his son, with the broken side spearing into his body
After inspecting it, Mr O’Leary came to the conclusion that the spring had fractured previously and repeated use caused it to come loose, before it was wrenched out as Cam jumped on the trampoline
‘It snapped from the end where it had fatigued on the edge of the frame hole/slot. If your springs seem OK I would be at least tempted to rotate them yearly.’
Last year, research revealed half of childhood admissions to A&E in the UK for activity-related injuries are from trampolining accidents – although these are usually from falling awkwardly or colliding with someone else using them at the same time.
The University of Sydney looked at 1.4 million trampolining accidents around the world and concluded the activity ‘poses a significant risk’ to young people.
Children visiting trampoline parks were twice as likely to suffer broken bones or sprains than home models because commercial set-ups use ‘higher tensile strength… [which] may produce a harder bounce’.
Girls were more likely to injure themselves, with 55 per cent of activity-related hospital visits resulting from playing on a trampoline, compared to 38 per cent among boys.
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