OK, so we all have been living with the whole roller shoe phenomenon - bright-eyed, young maniacs on shoes with wheels everywhere. Hey, I’m cool with it because I’m still able to dodge out of the way when they come speeding down the walkway at the mall. The most popular brand is the original Heelys Skate Shoe which is sold in over 70 countries.

Well, now there’s a new report out that might put a bit of a damper on the roller shoe craze - some researchers last year found that the number of accidents while wearing the shoes is a larger than expected. How large? Try 1,600 incidents requiring a trip to the emergency room last year!

However, some of that number is probably due to the huge increase in popularity of these shoes - rather than an increase in the percentage of accidents per shoe user.

Nevertheless, bunches of different organizations including the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons have responded to the report by reminding the public that it’s a good idea for kids to use helmets and wrist, knee, elbow pad protection - especially when they’re initially learning how to use the shoes.

And to that, I have to say - no DUH. There’s should be no difference between Heelys and rollerskates and rollerblades safety, and in fact it seems like the learning to use roller shoes properly might be non-intuitive because it’s both a skate and a shoe at the same time. And parents are thinking “OK, this is not really a skate so it’s safer.” Not using safety equipment when first learning is a recipe for disaster.

All right, I’m done playing the blame game - back to roller hockey for me…

Source: Reuters Health via Yahoo News