The sad death of Dave Goldberg has me wondering how frequent dangerous falls from a treadmill are – and this seems like the right place to ask. Have any of you landed wrong, lost focus, slipped, or otherwise come off the back . . . the papers are now doing a bit of scaremongering and i wonder how accurate that is . . .
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.
I’ve been running on a treadmill every winter since 2004 and have never actually seen anyone fall on/from a treadmill.
jaretj
Really?
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.
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.
Things NOT to watch while on the treadmill
Tennis
X Games
NASCAR wrecks
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.
from the CSPC website,
http://www.cpsc.gov/en/Research--Statistics/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.
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.).
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.