Roller skates are shoes, or bindings that fit onto shoes, that are worn to enable the wearer to roll along on wheels. The first roller skate was effectively an ice skate with wheels replacing the blade. Later the “quad” style of roller skate became more popular consisting of four wheels arranged in the same configuration as a typical car.
The Roller Skating Association’s web page offers some health benefits of roller skating. Some of these benefits include providing a complete aerobic workout and burning 350 calories per hour while skating 6 miles per hour (9.7 km/h) or 600 calories while skating 10 miles per hour (16 km/h). In the 1980s rollerskating as aerobic exercise flourished briefly. Marnie Bjornson’s 1988 exercise video “Roller Burn” combined rollerskating with tai chi moves. Roller skating is equivalent to jogging in terms of health benefits. The American Heart Association recommends roller skating as an aerobic fitness sport.