safety on treadmills and fitness equipment

Usually I don’t like to jump on negative news guidelines as there is always a more positive story to tell. Positive stories feel better and don’t give us feelings of fear which is bad for our bodies. This morning, oddly enough I was running on a treadmill at the Y when I saw the ticker tape of this recall/news. I decided to google it for more information as the headline said one child death and 70 other injuries. I found a video on of one kid that got sucked under.  The video is below if you wish to see. It’s graphic. If your kids won’t listen to you to stay off your home treadmill and don’t seem to listen to your safety concerns then they might need to watch it with your supervision.

There is no audio and thank goodness because if you have kids you just can’t stand the blood pumping scream that accompanies a kid in the process of an injury or just thereafter.

This kid is one of the lucky ones as after he’s pulled under the treadmill and moved around a bit, he finally escapes and walks away. Thank goodness, but I bet he won’t be a fan of treadmills after that sadly.

Many years ago at Energy Fitness one of the trainers children was on the treadmill walking and one of the small stability balls got sucked under sending the end of the treadmill up in the air. Very scary. She learned to not have balls anywhere close to them as well as we learned to be sure and have equipment behind the treadmills to avoid this safety hazard. When I worked at the Downtown YMCA in Memphis right out of grad school I recall a teenager getting thrown off the back of the treadmill and why he kept jumping back on at least twice with heavy abrasion wounds I’ll never know. What the heck!

At least 3 feet behind treadmills is the legal suggestion and safety guidelines! Be careful and stay safe. Fitness is important but weight the risk to benefit ratio and keep in mind safety of all the fitness equipment that you use in gyms, studios, hotels and your own home.