Crash, bang, ow! Virtual-reality injuries rise amid jump in popularity of VR gaming headsets

Major companies selling VR headsets provide warnings about how to use the products safely, and recommend keeping small children from using them. — Image by kues1 on Freepik

The 20-something man walked into Stanford Health Care’s emergency department suffering from a common injury with an uncommon – but growing – cause: He broke his hand while flailing around in a virtual world.

Wearing a virtual-reality headset that immersed him in a computer-generated environment, the man had “gotten a little too enthusiastic” and punched a wall, said Dr Ryan Ribeira, assistant medical director of the Stanford Emergency Department, who treated the patient.