Citation

Monteilh C, Patel P, Gaffney J. Clin. Pediatr. 2017; 56(10): 909-911.

Affiliation

1 Winthrop University Hospital, Mineola, NY, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0009922817706143

PMID

28436285

Abstract

Hoverboards burst onto the scene with wide popularity only to be quickly deemed unsafe and banned in many arenas. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 35 patients seen in our outpatient pediatric orthopedic office over a 1-year period. The mean age of injured patients was 11.14 years; 18 patients were male (51.4%), and 17 were female (48.5%). The highest number of injuries occurred in children 10 to 14 years old who had 57.1% of the injuries. There were a total of 31 fractures in 27 patients. Most of the fractures were in the upper extremities (93.6 %). Also, 9 soft-tissue injuries were found in 8 patients; 88.9 % of injuries occurred in the upper extremities. Most of the injuries were secondary to a fall (94.3%). We found that the most common injury was upper-extremity fracture. We suggest restricting riding <16 years and encourage protective equipment, especially elbow and wrist guards.

Language: en

Keywords

fall; hoverboard; injury; public safety; safety