Heelys - Good or Bad For Kids?

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

05 Jun 2007 07:49 AM

Do you know what a heely is? I see them all the time now. When I was substitute teaching at the school, I was constantly reminding the kids they needed to take the wheels out of their heels while they were in the school. Heeling is growing more popular by the day and kids as young as four and five are getting in on the heeling action.

So what's the problem?

Fractures & Sprains

A study was released yesterday in a pediatrics journal that detailed how 67 children had been treated for injuries directly related to their Heelys. The study was conducted in Dublin, Ireland and took place over a 10-week period. It seems that there is an unnatural balance that is required in order to successfully heel around on those little wheels in the heels of their shoe.

If you haven't ever seen someone heeling, then you need to realize that a person must cant their body backwards in order to coast on their heels. Often one foot is placed in the other - making it even more difficult to catch yourself should you overbalance and fall.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported a week ago that the footwear could be blamed for at least 64 injuries and 1 death. The footwear is trendy right now as popular in Korea, Singapore, Europe and the United states. Heelys Inc has shipped more than 10 million pairs of the shoes since 2000.

So why so many injuries?

ProtectionSafety or Trendy?

For me, this is a no brainer. Trends are all well and good, but if my daughter wants to roller skate, she has a pair as well as the protective gear. I'll vote with safety over trendy every day of the week.

What do you think about heelys?

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Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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