The next time you're tempted to go on the escalator with your child in a stroller, resist. It may be faster, but it may not be worth the risk.

Approximately 2,000 children are injured each year on escalators, with the majority of them being under age 5, according to a study published in the journal Pediatrics and conducted by researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy (CIRP) in the Columbus Children's Research Institute at Columbus Children's Hospital in Ohio.

"These children were more likely to have serious injuries such as amputation and avulsion injuries, presumably due to the large number of entrapment-related injuries in this age group," says Jennifer McGeehan, lead author of the study and member of the CIRP staff. "Additionally, falls were the most frequent mechanism of injury for all age categories, resulting in 51 percent of all injuries. However, older children were more likely to fall, while younger children were more likely to become entrapped, most likely because of their small hands and feet. Also important, a small but notable proportion of injuries occurring to children under 5 were due to the child falling out of a stroller while being transported on an escalator."

There were no fatalities in the data. In 97 percent of the cases, children were treated and released from the hospital. Of the children who required admittance to the hospital, most injuries involved a diagnosis of fracture/dislocation, laceration and amputation/avulsion, McGeehan says.

When asked where kids tend to get entrapped, McGeehan says they didn't look into this too much. Children became entrapped in all areas: the top, bottom or elsewhere on the escalator as it was moving. "It seemed that many of them were in the side of the escalator," McGeehan says. "The child's hand, foot, shoelace, etc., would get caught between the moving escalator step and the stationary side wall."

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