Springless Trampolines are Safest

Very interesting learning today relating to play, trampoline safety and concussions. A timely topic as we approach summer.

The automotive industry established a safety standard called the Head Injury Criterion (HIC). This index measures the likelihood and severity of head injuries in an accident. A higher HIC score indicates increased likelihood of a more severe injury.

The HIC is now used as the safety standard for many products including playground surfacing materials and ... trampolines. Currently, the industry standard for playground surfacing and trampolines is a HIC score of 1000. This is amazing, consider what 1000 means.  Check out what 1000 means.

Head Injury Criterion	Chance of NO Injury	Chance of Minor Injury	Chance of Moderate Injury	Chance of Critical Injury	Chance of Fatality
77	Over 99%	Under 1%	~0%	~0%	~0%
250	65%	35%	12%	~0%	~0%
400	30%	75%	30%	Under 1%	~0%
1000	1%	99%	90%	3%	~1%
2000	~0%	100%	100%	65%	25%

Source: SpringfreeTrampoline.ca

Not all trampolines are equal!  The HIC of a springless trampoline by Springfree Trampoline* is just 77.

Read the full blog post, which contains additional research references.


* Full disclosure: In my non-sportsmom life, Springfree Trampoline is a client.  Given recent experience with concussions, this was personally very interesting!