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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums13 shocks in one race? ER doctors warn about 10,000 volt wires in mud runs
Who thought this was a good idea?
http://www.today.com/health/13-shocks-one-race-er-doctors-warn-about-10-000-2D11641896
Here is some news that may (or may not) shock you, pun totally intended: Those muddy obstacle course races everyone seems to be doing lately can be dangerous, especially when they involve obstacles charged with 10,000 volts of electricity, emergency physicians say.
Doctors confirmed this in a series of case studies looking at the injuries that happened during a Tough Mudder event in Philadelphia earlier this year. Of the 38 racers treated in the emergency department over that weekend in June, about half suffered electrical injuries.
That's because this particular event features two obstacles that require runners to brave their way through electroshock: Theres the Electric Eel, in which participants slide on stomach through frigid water or along layer of ice while shocks hang overhead, and theres Electroshock Therapy, in which they run through a field of live wires (up to 10,000 V).
The types of injuries were ones that we had never seen before at a social gathering or sports-related event, the electrical injuries in particular, says Dr. Marna Rayl Greenberg, director of emergency medicine research at Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown, Pa. I have been practicing for over 20 years, and I have never seen an event that shocked people. It took me a while to understand what was happening to them.
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Scootaloo
(25,699 posts)NaturalHigh
(12,778 posts)PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)Injuries can (and do) happen in any sporting event.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)The wire zaps are almost certainly the least dangerous part of a mud run.
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)The 20 foot climbing rope wall when you're full of mud is rather precarious. And I did that in a full length ball gown.
enlightenment
(8,830 posts)with the exception of pugilism, do not involve deliberate bodily injury. An accident that happens in the course of engaging in a sporting event is one thing - this is a different thing altogether.
If they want to make it tough, have the contestants do it blind-folded - or naked - or with one hand tied behind their back. Deliberately shocking someone is perverse.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)I watched several hundred zombie run participants get zapped, got zapped myself plenty, and saw no injuries resulting from it. Most everyone who got hurt did so after slipping on gravel and eating shit.
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)"It almost has that haunted house effect to it -- it appears to be more dangerous than it really is," says Mell, who is training for a Tough Mudder next year. (He did suffer an injury during his training a stress fracture while running, which, he says, beautifully illustrates the idea that accidents can and do happen during any athletic endeavor.) Theres no question that the race is designed to create discomfort, and the idea of it is, Hey, I can overcome this.
It's not 'deliberate bodily injury'. It's discomfort. Thousands participated in that Philly event. 38 were injured. They did a case study of 5 from the shocks.
enlightenment
(8,830 posts)And I disagree with you - and that's okay. You're welcome to this form of "sport", with or without electricity.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)Vashta Nerada
(3,922 posts)What the hell is wrong with them?
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)please and thank you.
Several friends and I do a 5k mud obstacle course every year. We are team "Off Like a Prom Dress". And yes, we do it in formalwear. It's a blast. Tough Mudder is about 3 times that - so a lot more training and hard work.
I have several friends who do the Tough Mudder. To put it into perspective, very very few people are getting injured like that. The particular branded event in OP had about half a million participants in 2012 and likely many more this year.
Vashta Nerada
(3,922 posts)I am capable of training without getting shocked by 10,000 volts.
L0oniX
(31,493 posts)PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)HooptieWagon
(17,064 posts)That seems excedingly stupid. What's next?...a lion pit? Live fire?
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)They're fun things to train for, do, and accomplish. But I'll do without fire and electricity, please and thanks! I most certainly would end up one of the injured.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)They look like loads of fun.
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)It actually got annoying really quickly. It's a powder that gets in your eyes and mouth and stuff.
Oh, and ELECTRIC RUNS! I did that one a couple months ago. Also dangerous cuz it was on trails where a lot was in the dark.
I'd like to do the zombie run next year. I've never done that one.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)That's a new on on me.
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)Codeine
(25,586 posts)I'd want to come up with some LED craziness to wear before I did it, though.
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)I have about 30 feet of battery powered el wire and several strings of battery powered LED lights. And I've never seen so many glowsticks in my life.
MADem
(135,425 posts)It's a badge of stupidity, er.... honor.
NaturalHigh
(12,778 posts)I'd say the deck is stacked against these people.
loli phabay
(5,580 posts)elehhhhna
(32,076 posts)PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)But insurance is probably high which adds to registration fees for these events.
broiles
(1,367 posts)Codeine
(25,586 posts)It was a Zombie-themed run with lots of mud, some truly challenging obstacles, a few electric shocks, and gauntlets of "zombie" volunteers trying to snatch ribbons from our waists to "kill" us. I had fun and the zaps were no more serious that the ones I used to get all the time as a child around electric cattle fencing.
I imagine falling from a wet and slippery obstacle, the chance of wiping out in the mud and busting a leg or wrenching an ankle, eating shit on the gravel, and the grueling nature of the run itself (lots of hills, 95F weather) all represent much greater risks than the light electric shocks being dealt by the wires.
PeaceNikki
(27,985 posts)Hundreds of thousands of people participate in those events every year. In addition, that event has raised over $6 million for the Wounded Warrior Project.
backscatter712
(26,355 posts)All across the country, ranchers use electric fences that use thousands of volts, but only a few milliamps of current.
Touching one of these fences hurts like hell, but normally doesn't injure or kill.
I don't know what these guys were using.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)The wires at the mud run felt about the same, or maybe even a bit less, but that could just be the fatigue and adrenaline talking.
I remember being a kid around those thing -- trying to see who could hold on to the wire the longest with my idiot friends.
The resulting brain damage may explain my posting history, actually.
Orrex
(63,185 posts)No way to conduct a business, that's for sure.
Orrex
(63,185 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)Orrex
(63,185 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Response to Orrex (Reply #34)
magical thyme This message was self-deleted by its author.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)Turnout can be shocking.
JimDandy
(7,318 posts)WinkyDink
(51,311 posts)Codeine
(25,586 posts)Mud runs are all the rage. We recently did a zombie-themed mud run where the turnout was just massive.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)Chocolate=Good
Mud and Dirt=Bad