Next Generation Scooters

A child riding a scooter has become a very common sight in most cities. Parents and carers of school-aged children are pleased that this measure promotes physical activity in children which is declining, particularly in the Western world, where focus on attention economics is relentlessly forcing children to spend more and more time on smart devices.

Children while riding a scooter usually kick with only one foot repeatedly.

In this way they create an intense asymmetrical physical activity affecting the developing musculoskeletal system of a growing child.

Such physical overexertion can lead to deformation of skeletal and muscular system.

The younger the child the greater is the damage caused by asymmetric exercise, as the human bones and muscles are most actively developing at child’s young age[1].

[1] Limbs of children grow very quickly. In the first five years the child’s body height doubles. Annual heigh growth varies from 10 cm in first two years to 7 cm in third-fourth year. Source: Growth and Health // Kail Robert V. Children and their Development. - Boston: Person, [2015]. - p. 100-112.

Scooters for toddlers appeared on the market relatively recently - about 20 years ago, so very little is known about the scooters’ harmful effects on the children’s body formation. Most of the children who frequently rode a scooter in their early childhood have not yet grown up. Therefore, there isn’t critical number of injuries in the world that would ignite scientists and doctors to worry about this problem. Commissioned by ENABLIUM MB, Lithuanian Sports University in August 2021 performed an analysis of the scientific literature. No article was found examining the effects of intense asymmetric exercise on a developing child body. The scale of the search was wide, not only narrowing down to the effects of scootering. Most probably the research on the damages of intense asymmetric exercises to the developing organism has not yet been carried out, because children do not commonly encounter any other active asymmetrical physical activities other than riding scooters.

Figure 1. Muscle activity while riding a scooter
(based on ongoing research conducted by Lithuanian Sports University, www.lsu.lt/en, in November 2021)

We are responsible parents ourselves and we see existing scooters as harm to our children, so we are looking for ways to improve them so that they do not damage children’s physiology and remain an attractive mean of maintaining physical activity.

Together with engineers and orthopedists, we have discovered a way how to encourage young children to change their kicking leg regularly.

We patented our inventions in an international patent application (patent # PCT/IB2021/054411).

Figure 2. Testing muscle activity while riding a scooter (Lithuanian Sports University, www.lsu.lt/en, December 16, 2021)

More doctors and scientists have joined our initiative. ENABLIUM MB made an agreement with the Lithuanian Sports University to determine harmful intensity of asymmetric physical activity at an early age (2 to 7 years) emphasizing on the child's ability to ride a scooter while kicking repeatedly with one leg only. ENABLIUM MB working together with scientists aims to thoroughly investigate the damage of intense asymmetric physical activity to the development of human body and to actively spread this problem in society worldwide. One of our goals is to warn parents about this threat and encourage them to take care of their children's health.

It is clear, the scientifical research to determine the scale of the problem and find effective solutions will take years. Unfortunately, parents do not currently have any means of encouraging their young children to change their legs regularly while riding a scooter (the only solution for parents is to encourage their children to change their legs which is particularly difficult when it comes to caring for two- or three-year-olds).

ENABLIUM MB aims to create a simple and accessible device that encourages a young child to change their kicking leg regularly while riding a scooter.

In November 2021, ENABLIUM MB with facilitation of the Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology received funding from the EUROPEAN UNION Structural Funds to develop a prototype of device that reduces the damage caused by asymmetric physical exertion. For cautious parents this device would allow easy and comfortably control their children's physical activity by ensuring a balanced (symmetrical) physical activity. Rapid market introduction would bring significant benefits to the global community in raising its healthy members. Currently there is no such device on the market.

If you are interested to any kind of cooperation or joining our initiative, please contact:

 

Vytautas Martinaitis
Managing Partner
vm@enablium.com
+370 687 33 335