New Study Says Scooters Are Sending More Kids to Emergency Rooms

If you have children, you probably have plenty of reasons to keep the emergency room phone number on speed dial, ranging from sports to accidents. However, according to a new study, your child is more likely to need emergency room care because of a popular toy: a Razor scooter. With this news, parents have yet another reason to consider visiting urgent care clinics in the event of non-critical medical conditions.

Non-motorized scooters first hit the American toy market in the 1990s and have been highly popular ever since. Of these, Razor scooters easily became one of the leading brands: first released in 2000, they quickly sold more 5 million products in six months and were named Spring/Summer Toy of the Year by the Toy Industry Association. However, according to a study by the Nationwide Children’s Hospital, this popularity coincided with an increasing number of children sent to the ER for toy mishaps, with the rate of injury also growing 40% during that time. Because of this, the researchers attribute this growing trend with the ever-popular children’s scooters.

In the study, the first to track toy-based injuries, the researchers pointed out that half of toy-based injuries occurred in children younger than five. These patients were more likely to be injured by exploratory and practice play toys, while children under three were also at risk of accidentally choking on their toys. Meanwhile, children older than five were more likely to be injured from playing with ride-on toys, with 77% of injuries resulting from falls. These falls often lead to cuts and scratches, or broken, fractured and dislocated limbs.

While these findings may make you want to hide your child’s scooter, the researchers point out that the risks can be managed: their data shows that awareness of potential injuries and proper precautions briefly brought the injury rate down, before it rose again in the mid-2000s. Because of this, it is important to have your child wear a helmet and other protective gear and provide proper supervision. Additionally, in the event of an injury, you should be prepared to dial the emergency room phone number. However, if the injury is non-life-threatening, your child can also be taken to an urgent care center, which will usually have a shorter wait time and offer more affordable care. Research urgent care facilities near you today to be safe. For more, read this link.