Stay on your toes while rolling on your heels

Heelys are hot. 

For kids, the sneakers with wheels in the heels are must-have items, no matter their price, ranging between $59 and $99. 

For investors, Heelys has been an attractive stock since its initial public offering two months ago. It launched at $21 a share, jumping to $32.60 the first day of trading. Today, it is selling around $37. 

But for some local school and government officials as well as shopping mall managers, Heelys are more like a hot potato. Anecdotal reports of broken bones and run-ins with cars have raised a lot of safety concerns, prompting some malls and schools to ban them. One hilly town in England, Yeovil, just banned them altogether; anyone wearing anything that has wheels and can be attached to the feet (that also means skateboards and roller skates) risks being arrested and prosecuted. The maximum potential fine is £500 pounds ($975). 

Based on data submitted so far to the Consumer Product Safety Commission from participating emergency rooms, Heelys — or other sneaker/skates — don't seem to account for a large number of hospital-treated injuries in the U.S. Records suggest that hospitals treat several hundred related injuries each year. However that number will undoubtedly increase as the popularity of Heelys grows. The 7-year-old company sold 3.9 million pairs for the first nine months of 2006; that's more than five times the 697,000 pairs sold in 2004. 

Heelys is well aware of the risk, including several different warnings in its shoes and on its Web site. On its Web site, for example, visitors have to read and accept a warning before they can watch any of the videos demonstrating the shoes. "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 … Never use Heelys in an unsafe manner, and never without full protective gear," the warning says.  The videos, however, feature users who aren't wearing such safety equipment. Heelys said that's because the video features highly-trained professionals.

To address the risk, Heelys hired Heiden Associates, an economic and product safety consulting firm, to do a study. And according to that study of injuries, based on data from the CPSC and National Sporting Goods Association, Heelys says wheeled shoes have a lower injury rate than nearly all other popular sports. The study estimates that the rate of injuries from wheeled shoes was 33 per 100,000 participants from 2001-2005. That compares to an injury rate of 2,184 for basketball players, 945 for skateboarding, and 358 for inline skating. The study doesn't compare wheeled shoe injury rates with just plain walking, (which we assume many youngsters would be doing if their sneakers didn't have wheels) but Heiden Associates says CPSC emergency room injury data shows that there were almost 19,000 injuries for 7-15 year olds in 2003 associated with shoes and other footwear. 

Still, it pays to be safe not only for your children's sake but for the people around them who stand to get pushed over, should your kids lose control when skating by.

Based just on Heelys videos, it's clear that using sneakers with wheels requires a different technique — even talent — than walking. And in turn, as Heelys and safety officials urge, use protective gear and be attentive to surrounding traffic and other pedestrians, including those who don't have wheels on their feet. In other words, don't be a heel.