Roller-Shoe Injuries on the Rise

Part sneakers, part skates, shoes with wheels in the heels are all the rage these days. The fast-moving fad of "heeling" or "street gliding" propels kids from walking to rolling in the blink of an eye. But a new study reports that the international craze is increasingly sending kids to the hospital.

During the summer of 2006, 67 children were treated at the Temple Street Children's University Hospital in Dublin, Ireland, for significant wheeled-shoe-related injuries, according to a study published in Pediatrics. None of the kids, who were about 9½ years old on average, had been using any kind of protective gear.

More than three-quarters of those injured were wearing Heelys — the popular brand of shoes with removable wheels that started the footwear phenomenon in 2000. The rest of the injuries were among those donning Street Gliders — wheels that strap on to regular athletic shoes.

Most of the injuries happened:

• among girls (56 out of 67)
• in kids who were wearing the shoes for the first time or were just learning
• outdoors — on roads, sidewalks, playgrounds, or cycle lanes
• in the upper limbs — broken wrists, hands, and arms, as well as dislocated elbows (though some kids had knee, foot, or ankle injuries and broken legs)
• when kids fell backward or forward as they tried to transition from walking to rolling mode, which requires balancing themselves as they shift their weight to the backs of their heels

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) also received reports from September 2005 to December 2006 about 64 roller-shoe-related injuries (mostly to the wrists) and one death, which happened when the person rolled into the street and was hit by a car. However, the CPSC says there were actually 1,637 injuries involving wheeled shoes in 2006, according to the organization's National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), which estimates product-related injuries by looking at various hospitals' emergency room records.

What This Means to You

Roller shoes may look like your average sneakers on the outside. But the study's researchers, the makers of Heelys, the CPSC, and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) all agree that the best way to keep roller-shoe injuries to a minimum is to treat them less like everyday footwear and more like sports equipment — akin to inline skates.

That means kids wearing them should don protective gear — helmets, kneepads, elbow pads, and wrist guards (especially important since most of the injuries happen when kids use their hands to try to break a fall).

The AAOS also recommends sharing these wheeled-shoe precautions with your kids:

• Learn and practice the basic skills of the "sport" — like how to stop — before taking the shoes out in public.
• Use the shoes on flat surfaces — not on rocky areas, over curbs, or down hills.
• Don't use the shoes around lots of people or in traffic.
• Don't try to maneuver around crowds.

To keep bumps, bruises, and breaks at bay, supervise as kids learn how to use the shoes and make sure more seasoned rollers know — and follow — the proper safety precautions.

Source: Mihai Vioreanu, MRCSI, et al. Pediatrics, June 2007.