Michigan State University researchers have established that roller coasters can trigger the passage of small kidney stones, especially if several rides are taken and the roller coaster is designed to produce moderate-intensity ‘jolts.’ Of course this effect only applies to someone who has kidney stones, and the kidney stones need to be fairly small in size.
Kidney stones refers to a condition where a solid piece of material (kidney stone) occurs in the urinary tract. The stones are a mass of chemicals and salts that form into a hard substance. The official name for the disease is urolithiasis, and with this stones form in the kidney and leave the body in the urine stream. A small stone can pass without any symptoms; however, a larger stone can cause blockage of the ureter, leading to severe pain in the lower back or abdomen.
To examine the roller coaster effect in more detail, Professor David D. Wartinger, who is a urologist, and his research team have developed a 3D printed model of a kidney filled with urine. Professor Wartinger became interested in the passing of stones in relation to fairground rides, Gizmodo reports, when he read a series of reports of people passing a kidney stone after riding the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disney World in Orlando.
The 3D model was fitted to a backpack and tested various times on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (wither permission from the park authorities). The pack was held by researchers in the approximate position of the actual kidney. Various models were tested, with stones in different positions in the silicone printed kidney.
The researchers also sat in different positions along the roller coaster. The results showed that sitting at the back of the roller coaster led to a 64 percent chance of passing kidney stones; whereas at the front the success rate slipped to 17 percent. These different success rates, together with information relating to the location of the stone and the size of the stone, have been put into a computer model and can be explained through the application of different physical forces.
The significance of the findings are that they could lead to the development of a rather unconventional therapy, but one that’s effective, for patients. Such a therapy would be based in a hospital rather than sending patients on multiple roller coaster rides.
The research findings have been published in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association. The research paper is titled “Validation of a Functional Pyelocalyceal Renal Model for the Evaluation of Renal Calculi Passage While Riding a Roller Coaster.”
