Austin Doctors seeing #hoverboardfails in the ER

"Hoverboards" may not actually hover...(they have wheels)...but they were hot items this Christmas.

Quickly, people across the country began posting videos online showing #hoverboardfails!

Even doctors here in Austin have been treating injuries from falling off of them.

We spoke with local Hoverboard expert, Austin Wells.  A couple of months ago he started his own company, austinhoverboard.com.

"I wanted one but couldn't just get one for myself, so I just got 5 and thought 'I'll sell these in the next 2 weeks.'  They sold in the next 24 hours!  So I put a website together and it's just been history every since, it's been overwhelmingly successful," Wells said.

In case you haven't noticed, social media has been overwhelmed with #hoverboardfails.

Mike Tyson wiped out on one.

A priest who decided to use his in church was suspended.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a warning on Hoverboards...mainly because some have even been blowing up.

Wells says those that have been catching fire most likely had low-end lithium batteries.

The Hoverboards he sells have a higher-end Samsung battery.  He says if you're buying a Hoverboard, make sure the battery is UL Standard.

"Ask as many questions as possible.  Is it the Samsung battery?  Is it a counterfeit Samsung battery?" Wells said.

Dr. Eric Higginbotham with the Dell Children's ER says so far he hasn't seen any fire-related injuries.  But his team has been busy treating other Hoverboard injuries.

"We've seen several people who have fallen off of these and the injuries I'm seeing are either wrist sprains or wrist fractures," he said.

He says to make sure you're not on uneven pavement when you're getting used to riding them.

"It's your natural impulse to put out one or both hands or if you're falling back to put out both hands behind you...and it's that motion where that wrist is going to catch all that weight," Higginbotham said.

According to Wells, Hoverboard riders tend to eat pavement when they step off of them incorrectly.

"The best thing to do is to step on it like a stair and to step off it like a stair.  Never step off it forward, step off it backwards.  Getting off it has proven to be the most difficult thing for people getting off it for the first time.  But when you get on it, it's good to hold on to something on either side of you while you feel, because you're going to start wobbling a lot, it's very sensitive," Wells said.

Dr. Higginbotham says so far Dell Children's hasn't seen any head injuries from Hoverboards but he says that's bound to start happening soon.
  
He encourages wearing a helmet.