Hoverboard Horrors: Parade of Patients Landing in the ER After Falls

Fractured wrists, sprained ankles and dislocated elbows. Broken tailbones, concussions and spinal fractures.

It seems no area of the body is immune from destruction during a fall from a self-balancing scooter – aka “hoverboard.”

Since the holidays, emergency rooms and orthopedic doctor’s offices across the country have been inundated with patients, young and old, suffering from injuries caused by what now trends on social media as a #hoverboardfail.

Many area physicians agree it’s been decades since they’ve witnessed this rate of injury attributed to a single recreational toy or device – including roller blades, Heelys and the re-emergence of the pogo sticks.

“They’re unwrapping them. They’re jumping on them. And then they’re falling on them,” said Great Neck hand surgeon Peter Stein, MD, president of the New York Society for Surgery of the Hand, before adding tongue-in-cheek, “Hoverboards are the greatest thing to happen to hand injuries since ice.”

Dr. Stein, an attending surgeon at Northwell Health’s North Shore University Hospital, said he has treated dozens of patients for hand, wrist and elbow injuries associated with hoverboard falls. His patients have ranged in age from 5 to 55.

On the day after Christmas, Kristen Bulavinetz, 33, tooled around for 10 minutes on her teenaged cousin’s hoverboard before suddenly and violently falling forward from the wheeled device. In minutes, the Manhattan speech pathologist was on her way to Northwell Health’s North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset.

“I was trying to be the cool older cousin and it back fired,” she said, remembering the moment in her cousin’s Manhasset carpeted basement. “When I went to get off the hoverboard, I lost my balance and fell. I put my arms out to prevent myself from hitting my face and head. The second I fell, I knew my arm was broken.”

“Hoverboards are the greatest thing to happen to hand injuries since ice,” quipped Peter Stein, MD

On Christmas and the day after Christmas, 18 adults and dozens of children landed in the emergency room at North Shore University Hospital with broken bones, contusions and sprains relating to mishaps on the ultra-popular toy, said Isabel Barata, MD, MBA, the hospital’s director of pediatric emergency medicine.

“The most common scenario associated with the falls involves the rider trying to get on the hoverboard, and then falling forward with an outstretched arm,” Dr. Barata said. “Another frequent scenario is when the person is trying to dismount and they fall backwards, either on their buttocks or on their head.”

To protect themselves against hoverboard injuries, physicians said riders should wear wrist guards, elbow and knee pads and helmets – and never ride alone.

“People are just hopping on without actually taking the time to understand what is required to safely ride the hoverboard,” Dr. Barata said.

The mounting injuries have led dozens of colleges and universities to ban the hoverboard on campus. And New York City is among a plethora of municipalities to outlaw its use on city streets. Internet sales giant Amazon has stopped selling the product.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission – which has initiated 28 investigations relating to hoverboards catching fire – has received dozens of reports of ER-treated injuries with hoverboards relating to falls, said Patty Davis, a spokeswoman with the commission.

“People are just wiping out on these things,” said Jahn Avarello, MD, chief of pediatric emergency medicine at Northwell Health’s Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park. “When the pogo stick came back into popularity a couple of years ago, there were some injuries relating to its use, but nothing like this.

“The hoverboard is cool looking and fun, but it’s also dangerous to ride without taking the right precautions,” added Avarello, while noting that more than 15 children were treated for hoverboard related injuries during the last of 2015 and the first week of 2016.

“This has impacted my job … and my personal life,” Ms. Bulavinetz said of her broken wrist, which remained in a splint this week. She expects to be fitted with a cast at her next doctor’s appointment. “I’m not able to write. In my classroom, I’m unable to open containers. I can’t gather materials. I have to really plan ahead for everything I do.”

Ms. Bulavinetz’s orthopedic physician, Dr. Stein, recalled the first time he and a colleague saw a hoverboard in use. It was back in October, and the two surgeons were seated in an airport terminal, waiting to board a plane to fly to an annual hand surgery meeting.

“We saw a person ride right onto an airplane on a hoverboard,” Dr. Stein said. “My colleague then quipped: ‘I’m going to draft a letter to the manufacturer of that device, thanking him for all the business it will generate.’”

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