I have come close several times but have never actually fallen off. I could see exactly how the accident in question could have happened because like I said I have come close before. For myself I just have to not let myself get complacent and always pay attention to what is going on.


Joel

I've been running on a treadmill every winter since 2004 and have never actually seen anyone fall on/from a treadmill.

jaretj

I've stepped wrong a few times and stepped off the belt a few times also. Just get complacent watching a show or a raven on the computer. One time I actually tried to turn like the runner did. That was dumb. Treadmills can be very hazardous to you if you are not paying attention.

Yep. Twice

Quote cut and paste from the article:

"According to data from the US Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC), almost 460,000 Americans were sent to hospital for injuries sustained during run-ins with exercise equipment in 2012. More than 30,000 of those were hospitalised or killed in the accidents."

Fear mongering at its finest. There may have been as few as one death in 2012, but if you throw it in the 29,999 accidents, it sounds so much worse.

Really?

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Good point! It's amazing how articles make that leap, quoting data that are almost irrelevant to the situation but leave the reader with the impression that things are getting so much worse.

In the past 18 years that I've been going to the gym regularly and using the treadmill I've only ever seen one person fall off: me! I was trying to ignore someone who was trying to talk to me and they accidentally hit the stop button (well, I tell myself he must have done it accidentally!) I still have scars on my knees from that fall. I have fairly extreme motion sickness / vertigo so I'm not comfortable on treadmills generally. If anyone is going to fall off, it's me, and I'm surprised that I haven't done so more than once. I take that as an attestation of just how safe treadmills are when they are used sensibly, ie for their intended purpose.

That said, the quoted article talks about an increase in accidents correlating with the use of devices like iPhones. It's not the treadmills that are dangerous, it's some of the decisions people make when they're on them. And treadmill design is getting fancier, with TVs and MP3 hook-ups and a gazillion programmed workouts, all of which encourage distraction and poor decisions.

Not only that, but the article doesn't differentiate between running injuries and treadmill-caused injuries. If someone running develops any kind of over-use injury and tells the Dr. that it happened while on the treadmill, then it becomes this statistic.

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

Things NOT to watch while on the treadmill

Tennis [you will drift from side to side on long volleys]
X Games [GoPro shots will give you vertigo]
NASCAR wrecks [see above]

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Is it even JUST treadmills? it says exercise equipment.

If someone rolled off an exercise ball it would seem to be included.

I saw someone take a nasty fall once at the local Y because they were busy looking at their phone and one foot drifted off to the side and they went down hard. Didn't help that some lunkhead lifting weights nearby busted out laughing and they wound up having words and needed to be separated by the staff.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

from the CSPC website,
http://www.cpsc.gov/...s/NEISS-Injury-Data/

Treadmill Injury Statistics
Injuries associated with treadmills seen in hospital emergency departments (ED)
YEAR Number of Injuries 2014 24,400 2013 23,900 2012 24,600

There have been 30 reported deaths associated with treadmills for the ten year period from 2003-2012 or an average of about 3 per year (2012 is the last year for which fatality reporting is nearly complete).

Ever run on a treadmill on a cruise ship?

My dog did once when she got on from the front. And my cat has no damn idea how to use the thing.

I've had my share of stumbles but I've never actually seen someone in person go down.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

I've seen many videos like yours, which is particularly funny, but never anyone in person

I totally and humiliatingly went flying off a treadmill in the very busy early morning hours of the New York Hilton (midtown) hotel gym. Wasn't paying attention, watching tv and just caught a piece of my shoe partially off the belt on the edge and went flailing off. Rolled onto the floor and then picked myself up and tried to maintain a shred of dignity as I skulked out. I have a feeling it was hilarious to see. I'm glad it was before everyone had smart phones to record and share because I may have become a viral video.

The only thing hurt was my ego but I have been much more careful on treadmills ever since.

A local World's Gym had their tread mills set up up front by the floor to ceiling windows so passer bys could see the people working out (the runners had their backs to the windows so viewers got a "better" view). Guy comes in and starts running at a pretty good clip on the tread mill and then decides to take his sweat shirt off while continuing to run. Gets it part way over his head and then for some reason forgets where he is and stops running. Went through the window on to the street. No injury surprisingly as the sweat shirt protected him from any cuts. Gym had to replace the glass but it was a different type so it reminded me every time I passed that place. They never did change the location of the tread mills though.

I would be cautious blaming the treadmill. It actually seems from this report below, which is what I suspect that he had a cardiac event, lost consciousness, then fell. There are many instances where losing consciousness may result in death even if the inciting event may not be immediately lethal (e.g. operating heavy machinery, driving a car, falling from a great height, in open water, etc.).

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ceo-dave-goldberg-heart-arrhythmia-autopsy-report-article-1.2213082

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Two wheels good. Four wheels bad.

I've come close a few times due to lack of attention. Also, watching videos where the camera moves horizontally can cause trouble. At my gym, they have life fitness treadmills where you can run on trails in the woods or through cities on sidewalks and when the camera goes around a sharp corner or comes to a high overlook on a trail it requires some extra concentration.

My only significant stumble/fall was when a breaker tripped at the local 24 Hour Fitness and all the treadmills stopped dead. Didn't help that I was in the middle of a tempo interval and slammed into the front of the 'mill pretty hard.

I have never fallen off of one but working as a personal trainer I have seen several people go down. Woodway treadmills are notorious for taking careless people out since they have planks instead of a single belt.

Best two "accidents" I saw...

Kid is screwing around with a treadmill at like 10-12 mph. Trips and falls off. In his attempt to go unnoticed he jumps straight back on to the treadmill and is immediately dumped off the back again.

Another time, guy was walking slowly and for some reason he just wasn't keeping up with the belt. Each step each he would be closer to the back end of the treadmill. His feet finally went off but he continued to hold on to the handles until the treadmill pulled his pants down to his ankles. At that point he let go and it pushed him completely off the back end.

These guys know how to use a treadmill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTAAsCNK7RA

uhmazing. one take, too

With 330 million people in the US, you can get a big sounding number for just about anything. Consider that your odds of dying on a treadmill are much less than being killed by a 5 gallon plastic bucket, or of becoming a billionaire.

Dave's death was a tragic, freak accident. The press the story got made the treadmill safety angle an easy story for "5 on your side" type segments/articles.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)