Summer Safety: Walk or Roll

The parents of ten year old Sarah D. (*Name has been changed to protect individual's privacy.) had already told her in the summer of 2001 that they would not be buying her "heelys" despite her many protests that "everyone else has them".

Still Sarah couldn't resist trying on her friend's new "heelys". For the rest of the summer her left leg was encased in a cast from the hip down to the toes. Bad luck? Maybe. But it wasn't as if Sarah's parents hadn't warned her.

"When Sarah first asked us for ·heelys' we tried to find out if they were safe" says her Mom. "We had seen some children zipping by on these things at the supermarket of all places and thought they looked pretty dangerous so when our daughter first asked us for a pair we tried to find out if kids were getting hurt. They were just something new then and other than getting an assurance from the store clerk we couldn't find any real information. We decided to err on the side of safety and not let our daughter have them. Unfortunately she still got hurt by trying on her friend's ·heelys'."

Roller shoes have a wheel in the heel. You can walk in them just as if you are wearing regular sneakers. That's clearly not the attraction. In these shoes when you shift your body weight in a certain way wheels pop out of the heels and next thing you know you are rolling instead of walking. Sounds like fun and that of course is why the Heelys brand now sells in 70 countries around the world.

"We always recommend that anyone who attempts to use HEELYS in any capacity should ALWAYS wear full protective gear including: helmets wrist elbow and knee pads" says the company's website. It then invites you to check out their videos which show "highly skilled trained professional adult skate team members some of whom may NOT be wearing full gear."

The company maintains the product is safer than either skateboards or inline skates (presumably while wearing safety gear). Still injuries are piling up.

In the summer of 2006 in just one hospital in Dublin Ireland 67 children were admitted over a 10- week period with injuries suffered while using "roller shoes". A recent study shows that most of them were girls and like Sarah D a good number of the injuries occurred the first time the children put on the shoes. The most common injuries were fractures and dislocations of the arms wrists and shoulders. None of the injured children had been using protective gear at the time.

Exact numbers on injuries in North America are now known. But in the United States the Consumer Product Safety Commission is hearing of numerous injuries and at least one death has been reported. At the beginning of 2006 the Canada Safety Council issued a consumer alert advising children and parents of children using roller shoes to wear protective gear and to avoid heeling on roads sidewalks and wet surfaces. They recommended a ban on heeling in public buildings and malls as well as school hallways and playgrounds.

The safety council estimates that a month with daily practice is required to master the "heeling" technique that is to learn control and balance of the body's centre of gravity.

The new study re-emphasises the need for safety first advising both parental supervision and protective gear for children.

"Wrist guards should always be worn to reduce impact forces and distribution when a child falls on the outstretched hand because upper-limb trauma constitutes 86.5% of our cases" the authors note.

Sarah's Mom says her advice is even better - "don't buy them don't let your kids borrow a friend's tell them shoes were meant for walking - not rolling."

Additional Resources:

Canada Safety Council

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission