Anyone who has ever been on the floor, writhing in pain from a lodged kidney stone, knows that the thought of going to an amusement park -- or anywhere other than the emergency room -- is out of the question. But if you’ve developed small stones in the outer ducts of the kidney, researchers from Michigan State University say that a ride on a roller coaster can help those stones pass through to the bladder. The 2016 study, published in The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, found that the rattling intensity of a coaster ride can be beneficial to patients with stones that are five millimeters (.2 inches) or less in diameter.
How to get stones rolling:
“The idea is to displace these little stones before they become big stones and cause a lot of pain and suffering,” says professor David Wartinger, who was an author of the study.
Wartinger said that he conducted the study after hearing stories from patients. One claimed that stones passed after three consecutive rides on the Big Thunder Mountain coaster at Disney World.
The researchers used a 3D-printed silicone cast of a kidney to test if stones would move during coaster rides. Success rates were a lot higher when they sat in cars near the back of the coaster.
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