Mother, 36, left with life-changing injuries after popular family day out: ‘Pain worse than childbirth’
A mother-of-three had to relearn how to walk after shattering her leg while trampolining on a family day out.
Kirsten Browning, 36, a life coach from Idaho in the US, went to a local trampoline park with her family when the ‘weather wasn’t great’ on March 22 earlier this year.
They trampolined for about an hour and were about to leave for dinner when she suggested one last bounce on a ‘wipe out’ attraction where you jump over a rotating arm.
Recalling the life-changing day, she said: ‘I said “wait, this attraction hasn’t been open the whole time we’ve been here, it’s the one thing we all wanted to play”.’
But after waiting patiently for their turn, disaster struck. Ms Browning said: ‘I jumped really high, but you can’t control where you go once when you’re in the air.’
As she landed from one leap, her left leg landed on the trampoline but her right leg hit the padded divider.
She said: ‘I heard the cracks as I landed, and I fell backwards on the trampoline, and I just grabbed my leg.’
It was the ‘cracks and crunches’—which were so loud her husband thought the machine broke—that made her think her leg was broken.
The Browning family had visited the trampoline park for a family day out during bad weather
They decided to stay longer than planned to try out the ‘Wipe Out’ attraction they were eager to try that involves jumping over a moving arm
But when Kirsten Browning landed the wrong way she said the pain as worse than childbirth
Ms Browning recalled: ‘It was excruciating, I had excessive sweating, tears were just streaming down my face.
‘It was very painful, and I’ve had unmedicated childbirth. I would go through labour again, but I would never want to go through this again.’
Because her leg was bent, rendering her unable to get off the trampoline, staffers called the emergency services.
‘My kids were crying. The paramedics came pretty quick. I was trying to reassure my kids I’m okay,’ she said.
‘They loaded me up on a transfer board and four people carried me out and put me on the gurney.’
Ms Browning was rushed to St Alphonsus Hospital where they had to cut off her leggings because she was in so much pain.
There, an x-ray revealed the immense pain was because her leg had been crushed into ‘powder and pieces’.
She was told she had a type five fracture with her tibia—in the lower leg—split in half and her femur—in the upper leg ‘crushed down’.
The paramedics arrived quickly to remove her from the trampoline as she was unable to move
When she arrived at the hospital she was told that the bone in her leg had been crushed into ‘powder and pieces’
But if this wasn’t enough Kirsten Browning was told they couldn’t operate that day because they had found a blood clot
To repair her shattered limb she needed a six-hour surgery, but the operation was delayed after they discovered a blood clot.
It meant waiting several days for surgery, and she had to inject her self with blood thinners. She said: ‘I couldn’t put my leg on the ground. I had to figure out how to function with a broken leg.
‘I had to give myself injections over the next few days and then went to surgery.’
After the operation, there was more agony and frustration awaiting her.
She said: ‘I couldn’t walk for three months, my toe couldn’t touch the ground.
‘I cried all the time. The one thing that kept me going was that I would heal from it, I had faith that I would heal and everything would be okay.
‘I started to go to physiotherapy, and they told me I have a foot stop where you can’t move your foot up and down.
‘If my foot didn’t heal, I would never be able to walk again.
Six months on, Ms Browning is still learning how to walk again, and relies on a walker, crutches and a wheelchair to get around.
After the operation she was unable to walk for three months and is still learning to walk again
While she can now drive she still struggles to walk describing it as like walking like a ‘pirate’
Now Kirsten Browning is warning other parents of the little-known dangers of trampoline parks
While she can drive now, she added: ‘I struggle with walking and the stamina of being on my feet for a long time, my leg will start swelling up.
‘I walk like a pirate because you have to focus on the correct walking motion and because of the pain it’s not easy to do.’
Since the frightening ordeal she has vowed to never step foot on a trampoline again and wants to warn other parents of the danger.
Ms Browning said: ‘I’ll never look at a trampoline the same way again.
‘It seems so simple, like no big deal but I didn’t realise how many other people had gotten hurt at trampoline parks.
‘I had no idea. I’ve always jumped on trampolines, but don’t think I’ll ever step foot on one again.’
