Hoverboard riders being treated for injuries after major spills
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- If you received one of this year's hottest Christmas gifts, watch out. Many recipients are finding themselves being treated for serious injuries.
The warning earlier this holiday season was that some hoverboards are at risk of catching fire because of the lithium ion batteries that they contain but now there's a much more mundane warning from Bay Area doctors.
VIDEO: Hoverboard catches fire, damages Brentwood home
In Internet video after Internet video, people have posted plenty of painful looking falls off their hoverboards.
This Christmas, one Bay Area doctor says that this present has already sent a few people to his emergency room.
"Predominantly wrist injuries and head injuries. We saw them at Marin General. I have a colleague who also works at a hospital in Tahoe and they were seeing the same thing," Dr. Carl Spitzer said.
Spitzer was working at the ER at Marin General hospital Christmas Day and said four different people came in with wrist or minor head injuries.
WATCH VIDEO: Family in Louisiana says hoverboard exploded, caught fire inside home
"Predominantly minor trauma fortunately, but people are hitting their heads hard enough that they can cause skull fractures and lacerations and inter-cranial bleeding," he said.
When Consumer Reports reviewed the hoverboards for overall quality before Christmas, their engineer had a spill of his own.
"The subtle body movements are easy to control at low speed but when you get going faster and you hit a bump and it causes you to shift your balance, you can very easily lose control," Consumer Reports engineer Bernie Dietrick said.
WATCH VIDEO: Consumer Reports tests three popular hoverboards
Consumer Reports recommends using a skateboard helmet, pads and guards. Spitzer said it's advice some people just aren't following.
"There's this thought it's Christmas Day, it's fun, it's this new toy, what can happen," he said.
On Twitter, the hashtag HoverboardFails is a virtual blotter of spills and injuries from people across the country.
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