Are you putting your kid at risk on the playground?

FRIENDSHIP, Md. - If you could, you'd wrap them in bubble wrap and send them out every day in a helmet. As parents, you want to protect your kids from the bumps and bruises they'll inevitably get. But what if one of the steps you take to keep them safe could actually lead to injuries?

Every mom knows when you're raising a little one; bumps and bruises come with the territory. Anne Arundel County mom Katie Dickman does everything she can to keep her little girl, Hannah from getting hurt. Like many toddlers, she likes to test the limits.

But Katie's learned the hard way that sometimes as a parent, the problems you try to prevent can actually end up causing pain. She got a firsthand lesson on a surprising playground accident that could happen to any child who takes a trip down the slide with mom or dad.

Doctor Edward Holt, an orthopedic surgeon at Anne Arundel Medical Center, says he’s seen a large amount of spiral leg fractures. He tells ABC2, "No matter where I am, somebody says, ‘I know somebody whose kid had that happen to them."

Holt says those fractures aren't a freak occurrence. Instead, he believes they're a trend. Holt sees as many as 10 toddlers each year, all with the same broken bone. It happens when they ride a slide on the laps of their parents. He explains that the child is usually wearing a rubber soled shoe, their foot catches and then the weight of mom and dad riding behind them pushes down. Holt says, "The foot is twisted, rotated outward and that's what causes the crack to form and spiral its way up the Tibia."

After treating about 200 patients in 23 years, Holt decided to go public, warning parents. He wants them to lend a hand and not a seat on their lap when it comes to the slide. With AAMC, he launched a YouTube public service announcement and put together a flyer they want posted in parks all over the area for moms and dads to see. Holt says, "It's not my goal to eliminate sliding boards altogether. They are a wonderful thing. It's their (the parent) trying to be protective that causes the problem."

The problem is a broken leg that often needs to be casted for weeks. Hannah had to wear hers for a month. Her dad, Jed Dickman, says, "At first she didn't understand what it was all about. She would look at this big orange thing on her leg and just cringe at it. She knew that orange thing made it so she couldn't walk."

But that active little girl is now back to running after a playground run-in that became a lesson for her parents. Katie Dickman says, "Somebody else, maybe you learn from my mistake."