Riding on roller-coasters can be fun and according to some U.S. researchers, also an effective way of getting rid of kidney stones. The conclusion of this research has won the team of researchers the Ig Nobel Prize for Medicine. That’s not a real award, though, the Ig Nobels are actually spoof prizes that are published in the Annals of Improbable Research. The research is completely real, though.
The research into this topic began when one of Professor David Wartinger’s patients at the State University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine returned from a holiday at the Walt Disney World in Florida. The patient claimed that one of his kidney stones had dislodged after a ride on the Big Thunder Mountain ride.
The patient wondered whether this was just a coincidence or if the ride had something to do with it. So he went on it a few more times and each time a stone popped out. Wartinger was intrigued by the story so he built a silicone model of the patient’s renal system with artificial kidney stones and then took it with him on many roller-coaster rides.
He found out that the Big Thunder Mountain ride was indeed effective in dislodging kidney stones compared to other rides as it involves more up and down and side to side movements. His study, yes it’s a serious study, was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Osteopathic Association.
Filed in .. Source: bbc