Riding a Roller coaster can help Dislodge Painful kidney stones read more at here www.spinonews.com/index.php/item/1031-riding-a-roller-coaster-can-help-dislodge-painful-kidney-stones

In a unique, home-spun experiment, researchers found that centripetal force could help people pass kidney stones.

A new study suggests that riding roller coasters can shake kidney stones loose before they become a problem that requires medical attention.

Thousands of people head to the emergency room every year for painful kidney stones. After years of hearing patients mention that they passed a kidney stone after riding a particular roller coaster, Dr. David Wartinger, a professor emeritus at Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine, decided it was time to conduct a scientific study to see if those anecdotes were really onto something.

Publishing their results in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, the team used an artificial kidney and a range of kidney stones to show that the roller coaster really does seem to help them pass more easily - if you sit in the right seat, that is.

The researchers reported that, sitting in the back of the roller coaster resulted in a passage rate of almost 64 percent, while sitting in the front seats resulted in a passage rate of almost 17 percent.

[Image Credits: JAOA ]

The study, published in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, the research team created a model of a kidney using 3D printer technology. Using a 3-D printed model of that patient’s kidney, the research team implanted three kidney stones of various sizes into the upper, middle or lower passageways of the clear silicone model.

 

After analyzing the location of those three kidney stones at the end of each ride, the researchers concluded that “findings support the anecdotal evidence that a ride on a moderate-intensity roller coaster could benefit some patients with small kidney stones,” Wartinger said.

 

You can read the full study report on Journal of the American Osteopathic Association website.