Riley Brown, 5, gets ready to the slide at the end of the
inflatable bouncy course at a Labor Day picnic in Mansfield Park
in Muncie, Ind. / Kurt Hostetler, AP The rate of injuries to
children on inflatable bouncers increased fifteenfold from 1995
to 2010, according to a report Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
The moonwalks, slides and bounce houses are popular
entertainment at young children's birthday parties and
carnivals, but the toll they are taking on the young is
"epidemic," says lead author Gary Smith, director of the Center
for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital
in Columbus, Ohio. In 2010 alone, 30 children a day were treated
for these injuries in hospital emergency departments, the report
says. The number of injuries increased from 702 in 1995 to
11,311 in 2010. Falls were the most common cause, followed by
stunts and collisions. Smaller children are a greater risk. Also
among the findings: Data for the study were obtained from the
National Electronic Injury Surveillance S