Strollers, carriers injure many

More than 17,000 children hurt every year, study finds.

Thousands of children every year are taken to hospital emergency rooms with injuries associated with baby strollers and carriers, reveals a new study published last week in the medical journal Academic Pediatrics.

The study found that from 1990 to 2010, a yearly average of 17,187 children under the age of 5 suffered injuries ranging from mild bruises to severe concussions, though that rate appears to be declining.

Most of the injured children — 96.5 percent — were not hospitalized.

Most often injured? Boys under the age of 1.

Bumps and bruises, most often to the head and face, were the most common injuries, the study found. But about a quarter of stroller injuries and 35 percent of carrierrelated injuries were concussions or traumatic brain injuries.

In fact, the rate of TBIs and concussions rose dramatically in the time period studied, from 19 percent of injuries in 1990 to 42 percent of injuries in 2010 for strollers, and from 18 percent of injuries in 1990 to 53 percent of injuries in 2010 for carriers.

Researchers said the increase might be due to the public’s increased awareness of head injuries rather than a true rise in the rate of cases.

“While these products are used safely by families every day, when injuries do occur they can be quite serious,” study co-author Kristi Roberts, a research associate in the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, said in a statement.

Robert Glatter, an emergency medicine physician at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, told ABC News he consistently sees children come in with stroller-related injuries that are usually not serious.

For that reason he tells parents: “Slow down. Never rush.”

Glatter is not a fan of adults texting or using cell phones while pushing a stroller or using a baby carrier because “even a split second of distraction can lead to a misstep, trip or fall,” he said.

The study’s authors also included tips for parents. As basic as it sounds, parents should make sure their child is always seated and buckled properly into the stroller or carrier. Read the manufacturer’s instructions on buckling.

Don’t hang heavy purses or bags on stroller handles because all that weight could cause it to tip over.

Lock the stroller’s wheels so it doesn’t roll away when you park it.

And never, ever, let a child push a stroller.