Spiking hoverboard injuries put damper on holidays
Learning to use popular electric scooter proves problematic
Fourteen-year-old Dellon Rassington was thrilled when he unwrapped a hoverboard on Christmas morning.
But within minutes, the two-wheeled, electric scooter landed him in the emergency room. A fall in his family’s tiled living room in Lauderdale Lakes left him with a broken wrist that kept him at Fort Lauderdale’s Florida Medical Center for most of the holiday.
“He was 100 percent surprised and 100 percent excited,” said his mom, Denise Rassington. “And then he fell and he doesn’t even want to see it anymore.”
The popular gift has been causing injuries all across South Florida this holiday season. Hospitals in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties have been inundated with at least 40 visits due to hoverboards. Injuries included broken and fractured wrists, as well as concussions.
And it’s not just the kids having trouble with the toys. Parents, too, have gotten hurt after taking them for spins. At Boca Raton Regional Hospital, two adults came in after falls from hoverboards — one with a head injury, another with a broken wrist, said Judie Tippet, a registered nurse and clinical director of the hospital’s Wold Family Center for
“It just went so fast, but he started screaming and we knew by the scream that it was definitely a major injury.”
Denise Perez, mother of Matthew Perez, injured in a hoverboard fall
Emergency Medicine.
Also among the adult victims: U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Miami, who posted a photo of himself on Twitter with his arm in a sling.
“Confirmed — #hoverboard is for kids,” he wrote.
Earlier this month, the scooters made headlines after reports of some catching fire. In one Boca Raton case, a woman told police her 11-year-old daughter was playing on the board when it started making popping sounds. It was on fire moments after the child jumped off, according to a report.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has said it is investigating the fire hazard posed by the toy.
In most of the local cases, though, falls have been the culprit. Dr. Anthony Sheehan, assistant director of emergency medicine at Florida Medical Center, said it seems to come down to two things.
“It’s A, not having the proper safety equipment, and B, not being used to it,” he said, adding that a simple fall can put a person’s wrist out of commission for weeks or months.
Many of the injuries have been mild, and Twitter users had fun posting videos of parents and kids stumbling while trying out the boards. The hashtag #hoverboardfail collected countless clips. One came from former professional boxer Mike Tyson, who slammed to the ground after tipping backward off his daughter’s pink board.
But some have been more seriously hurt. At Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, doctors have treated head injuries and severe fractures since Christmas, according to Chief of Emergency Medicine Bobby Kapur.
Matthew Perez, a 10-year-old from the Hialeah area, had to be airlifted from Memorial Hospital Miramar to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood for emergency surgery when his fall left his bone poking out from his skin, an open fracture.
The hoverboard was at the top of Matthew’s wish list. His grandparents gave him one the day after Christmas and he thought it was “awesome.” But while he rode it at a friend’s house that day, the board stalled and he fell off.
“It was like a matter of moments,” said Matthew’s mom, Denise Perez. “It just went so fast, but he started screaming and we knew by the scream that it was definitely a major injury.”
The Palm Springs North Elementary fifth-grader now has a blue cast on his left arm and is expected to recover within three months.
His hoverboard is either going back to the store or into storage, his mom said.
Those who want to ride the toy should treat it like learning to roller skate or ride a bike, said Dr. Eric Eisner, the pediatric orthopedic surgeon who operated on Matthew. He said it’s important for parents to know they can be dangerous, and suggested a helmet, wristguards, knee pads and supervision for those who are just getting started.
“They look like a fun toy,” he said. “And I’m sure that they are fun — once you learn how to use them properly.”