Treadmills and Traumatic Brain Injury

While most people associate treadmills and other exercise equipment with a healthy lifestyle, there is a darker side to them.

Every year, thousands of Americans tumble off equipment, hit their heads or drop heavy weights, according to an article in The Sacramento Bee.

“About 460,000 injuries involving exercise equipment – primarily treadmills – are treated in hospital emergency rooms annually, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission,” the article reads. “Despite such dangers, consumers are largely on their own in avoiding injury while exercising. Local and state authorities do not inspect how gym or fitness centers place their equipment, whether it’s dumbbells, elliptical machines or treadmills. In Sacramento, for instance, annual city fire inspections only check to ensure that gym equipment isn’t blocking fire exits.”

Treadmill injuries are reportedly the most common injury on exercise equipment, according to safety commission data. About 24,000 people a year are treated in emergency rooms for treadmill injuries. Some of those injuries include broken bones, abrasions and burns – but also traumatic brain injuries.

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“Treadmills are unique in that once the treadmill is set to its desired speed or incline, the machine doesn’t know if you lost your balance or are reaching for a water bottle or changing the music channel,” the article reads. “With every other piece of equipment, if you run into difficulty, the machine stops.”

According to the article, a common issue at gyms when there’s a case of someone getting hurt is that the safety zone behind the treadmill isn’t large enough. The minimum space requirement needed for user safety and proper maintenance is 3 feet wide by 6 feet deep, directly behind the running belt.

“A deeper clearance – 78 inches or 6.5 feet – is recommended behind exercise treadmills by ASTM International, the international agency that publishes voluntary technical standards for a range of equipment,” the article reads.  “There isn’t a health club in the country that puts 6 feet behind their treadmills. Those machines are packed in tight.”

Typically gyms have about 4-feet behind treadmills to allow for wheelchair access.

“In February 2015, Consumer Reports wrote about how to avoid treadmill accidents, including serious skin burns from the moving belt and people ‘who lose their footing and end up pinned between a wall and the machine,’” the article reads. “It advised consumers to know how to stop the treadmill, wear the machine’s safety clip and follow proper techniques for getting on and off a moving treadmill. It also urged consumers to “clear the area” behind a treadmill, following either the manufacturer’s instructions or the 6.5-foot distance recommended by ASTM. In rare cases, people can die in treadmill accidents. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, about 30 deaths were reported in the decade between 2003 and 2012.”