The Other Side of Amusement Rides: Thousands of American Kids Get Injured Every Year

The popularity of amusement rides among both kids and parents has gone up considerably over the years. However, according to experts, this trend is risky, as the rides at parks, fairs, festivals, local malls, stores and restaurants lead to nearly 4,400 children seeking emergency care every year.

The findings are based on a study done by a team of researchers from the Nationwide Children's Hospital. Senior author of the study Gary Smith and colleagues analyzed data on injuries related to amusement rides among children aged below 18 between 1990 and 2010.

During the period, more than 92,800 American children were hospitalized for injuries arising from amusement rides. Injuries were at a peak between the months of May and September - up to 20 injuries per day.

According to the report, majority of the kids got hurt in the head or neck region (28 percent) than other parts of the body, either from a fall (32 percent) or being hit by something while riding (18 percent). In most of the cases, amusement parks were the most common places of injuries (33 percent).

However, like amusement parks, mobile rides (29 percent) and mall rides (12 percent) were also found to be equally risky.

Coin-operated rides were found to be equally risky, especially for young children. The heads of smaller children tend to be larger and their center of gravity is slightly off, hence, they tend to topple over more.

"Injuries from smaller amusement rides located in malls, stores, restaurants and arcades are typically given less attention by legal and public health professionals than injuries from larger amusement park rides, yet our study showed that in the U.S. a child is treated in an emergency department, on average, every day for an injury from an amusement ride located in a mall, store, restaurant or arcade," Dr. Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy of Nationwide Children's Hospital, said in a news release. "We need to raise awareness of this issue and determine the best way to prevent injuries from these types of rides."

Findings of the study have been published in the online issue of Clinical Pediatrics.

Last year, a similar safety concern was raised by the Nationwide Children's Hospital about inflatable bouncers like bounce houses, moon walkers, slides or obstacle courses. The report, published in Pediatrics, found a 15-fold increase in the number of inflatable bouncer-related injuries between 1995 and 2010 among children below 18 years.

Like inflatable bouncers, trampolines have been another source of concern. A study published in Pediatrics in 2012 found nearly 100,000 injuries associated with trampolines among children.