Analysis of Injuries Associated with Personal Mobility Devices: Incidence, Typology, and Prevention

BACKGROUND: Personal mobility devices (PMDs) — electric scooters, unicycles and hoverboards — have become a popular alternative to private transport since 2019. Between 2020 and 2023, the scooter fleet increased tenfold, users fourteenfold and rides twenty-sixfold. This growth has been accompanied by more harm: in the first nine months of 2024, 3,897 road traffic crashes (+837%), 4,052 injured (+825%) and 44 deaths (+340%) were recorded in Russia versus 2021. Robust, systematised data on PMD-related injuries remain limited.

AIM: To characterise the epidemiology and injury patterns of PMD-related trauma, quantify emergency care at a level-I trauma centre, and outline organisational prevention measures.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Single-centre, retrospective, observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study based on quantitative data. Consecutive adults (≥18 years) admitted to the 1^st or 2^nd trauma departments of a Moscow multidisciplinary hospital from May 2021 to June 2024 were included; data source: medical records; stage: confirmatory.

RESULTS: We analysed 130 cases. Admissions peaked in autumn — spring. Men predominated (62.4%); most patients were 25–44 years (68.5%). Median ISS was 4 (IQR 4–9). The most frequent fractures involved the tibia (21.6%), forearm (17.9%) and clavicle (13.2%). All traumatic brain injuries were associated with concussion; 58.3% were open. Combined trauma commonly included upper-limb injuries (80%) together with TBI (90%). Surgery was required in 93.8% of cases, mostly one-stage osteosynthesis; plates and screws were used in 65.7%.

CONCLUSIONS: PMD-related trauma shows marked seasonality, predominantly affects young men and imposes high surgical demand. These data refine the epidemiological profile and may guide prevention and resource planning.