Recently, a South African mom sued a major retailer and the owners of a shopping centre for damages in the amount of R126 828 after her toddler was injured after falling out of a shopping trolley. Every year, thousands of children are treated in hospital emergency rooms for falls from shopping trolleys. Injuries associated with shopping trolleys are an important cause of severe head injuries and can even lead to death.

Shopping trauma and injuries can happen anywhere. There are all too many common situations in which shopping injuries occur when visiting the local store; slipping in a puddle of water, cutting your arm in the appliance section, having your Achilles tendon ripped off by the trolley driver behind you, getting stuck under the escalator or a paper cut in the stationery department. What about trauma? We all dread the thought of being stuck in an elevator resulting in dehydration, frustration and distress. Imagine how miserable your day will turn out when you realise you have just had a pick pocket snatch up your wallet? Consider how many children are being abducted from shopping malls these days. And armed robbery, it's not a fallacy, it really happens - daily in fact, in shopping centers around the world. Sadly hundreds of children and adults are injured and even traumatised annualy.

When a shopping injury causes a customer to be hurt in a store, medical bills usually grow and dealing with the store and its insurance company can be a large headache. To make matters worse, they argue that the misfortune or injury that you have just experienced was your fault! If you are without an attorney, getting relief can seem impossible.

To make matters worse, further research has shown that shopping could be detrimental to ones health as well. The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) experts have found that excessive shopping brings in earnest with its stress, pressure and even increased risk of injury. Shoppers experience an increase in back, shoulder and neck pain due to rushing around and carrying too many things at once placing added stress on bodies and causing an increase in chance of injury. The bottom line is that a store can be a very dangerous place for its customers.

Increased prevention of shopping related trauma or injuries can be achieved by taking some simple precautions, such as adult supervision where children are involved, avoid carrying too many parcels, by taking care not to place unbalanced weight on your body from shopping bags, leave large sums of money at home, wear steel combat boots, or just don't go shopping at all!

Ridiculous you may say. One needs to shop to survive! So what's the alternative? Shop Online. It's the safest, most secure, least traumatic solution to mortal shopping combat survival. With so many online marketplaces, it is obvious that shoppers are spoilt for choice. It really is just so simple to go online and to sit back and let your fingers (not your legs) do the walking across an array of catalogues, products and items available in almost every imaginable category. So you want to travel? Go online. You want to plan a romantic dinner with wine, candles and beautiful lingerie. Go online. Your kids need some back to school goodies. Go online. You want to buy a new outfit with some lovely jewellery to accessorise with. Go online. You have to buy a birthday present, mother's day present, father's day present......go online.

With all the online tools available to you today, you can compare prices of products against one another, research your product in its entirety in order to avoid a later buyer's remorse, pay online and even have it delivered to your door. Not only is it convenient and available to you 24 hours a day, it's also safe, secure and fun.

What's the worst that can happen now? You can get a cramp in your clicking finger from possibly becoming an online shop-aholic. A small price to pay to avoid all that other trauma and risk don't you think?