Injuries Associated with Hoverboard Use: A Case Series of Emergency Department Patients

Abstract

IntroductionSince hoverboards became available in 2015, 2.5 million have been sold in the US. An increasing number of injuries related to their use have been reported, with limited data on associated injury patterns. We describe a case series of emergency department (ED) visits for hoverboard-related injuries.MethodsWe performed a retrospective chart review on patients presenting to 10 EDs in southeastern Virginia from December 24, 2015, through June 30, 2016. We used a free-text search feature of the electronic medical record to identify patients documented to have the word “hoverboard” in the record. We reported descriptive statistics for patient demographics, types of injuries, body injury location, documented helmet use, injury severity score (ISS), length of stay in the ED, and ED charges.ResultsWe identified 83 patients in our study. The average age was 26 years old (18 months to 78 years). Of these patients, 53% were adults; the majority were female (61.4%) and African American (56.6%). The primary cause of injury was falls (91%), with an average ISS of 5.4 (0–10). The majority of injuries were contusions (37.3%) and fractures (36.1%). Pediatric patients tended to have more fractures than adults (46.2% vs 27.3%). Though 20% of patients had head injuries, only one patient reported using a helmet. The mean and median ED charges were $2,292.00 (SD $1,363.64) and $1,808.00, respectively. Head injuries resulted in a significantly higher cost when compared to other injuries; median cost was $2,846.00.ConclusionWhile the overall ISS was low, more pediatric patients suffered fractures compared to adults. Documented helmet use was low, yet 20% of our population had head injuries. Further investigation into proper protective gear and training is warranted.

Panic Over a New Phenomenon Among Kids: Hoverboard Related Injuries at a Pediatric Emergency Department

“…We noticed that younger children were at a higher risk of HB related injuries in 2018-2019 in comparison with 2016-2017. In the literature, many studies report that pediatric patients are more at risk of injury than adults [3,4,7,13] and generally, the use of HBs and the injuries associated with them are more common in the adolescent population [10,[13][14][15]. Our nding draws attention to an alarming reality: the lack of the child surveillance and of the safety education efforts in our region during the most recent years.…”

“…The best usage of the HB has been conceived for adults for two reasons. First, children are physiologically at risk for falls because of less mature development in coordination, balance motor strength, along with their higher center of gravity [3]. The second reason is one of responsibility.…”

“…In fact, the HB can reach a top speed of 5-15 miles per hour [1] and this might be exciting and attractive for teenagers who often strive to perform more challenging and daring acts; this behavior is known as "risk-taking" [2] and therefore, they are prone to uncontrolled speed. Likewise, younger children are vulnerable to injury due to their physiologically immature motor skills [3] that can compromise the balance and the agility of tilting the pad and of controlling the speed and the direction of travel. This consideration is strengthened by the fact that pediatric patients are more at risk for HB related injuries than adults [4].…”

Facing Facts: Facial Injuries from Stand-up Electric Scooters

“…Other self-propelled transportation devices have demonstrated similar injury profiles to SESs. Hoverboards exhibit a nearly identical fracture and soft tissue injury profile, with the exception of a higher pediatric prevalence rate of 47% to 61% [15][16]. Although HNIs are less frequent with Segway® (Bedford, New Hampshire) personal transporters (15.6%), which tend to occur in older individuals with a mean age of 48 years, soft tissue injuries, and orthopedic injuries remain the most common injury types [17].…”

Characteristics of injuries according to types of personal mobility devices in a multicenter emergency department from 2011 to 2017

“…[ 6 – 8 ] A recent 5-year study using NEISS data reported that the majority of injuries related with E-scooters or E-boards occurred in patients younger than 20 years, and a multicenter emergency department (ED)-based study suggested that pediatric patients accounted for a higher percentage of fractures than adults. [ 9 , 10 ]…”