Exercise Safety

May 12, 2015

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Some of you who have had a tour of the Zanes headquarters know that we have a fully equipped gym for our staff members.

We get that our awesome staff members are working hard to serve our clients all day, plus their families and more…

We don’t want fitness and health to go by the wayside just because life gets in the way! In fact, you’ll see some of us strutting around in our Nike shoes and yoga pants early in the morning or after the phones have stopped ringing…

Okay the phones never stop ringing around here but we make it happen!

In the wake of our recent post on slip and fall injuries and the numerous occasions we have in which potential clients call, another topic arose in conversation – in tandem with these injuries – exercise injuries.

More specifically injuries that happen using exercise equipment.

Around the world last week the news of David Goldberg’s death, the CEO of Survey Monkey and beloved Silicon Valley veteran, came as a major shock.

New outlets reported Goldberg’s death as an accident that happened on a treadmill while vacationing in Mexico.

A Mexican state official told the Associated Press Goldberg died of severe head trauma and was found lying next to a treadmill. The impact of his death has already had a ripple effect on the business world.

What struck us here at Zanes was the sheer and immediate impact that such an accident had…

We have all been on a treadmill at one point or another and really…

We don’t think twice.

We hop on, hit the settings we want and off we go…

But after some research on our end, we found that serious injuries involving exercise equipment, treadmills in particular, are among the MOST common that emergency rooms see, according to data collected by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission!

In fact, hospital emergency departments across the United States treated over 24,000 treadmill related injuries just last year.

The agency counted 30 reported deaths associated with treadmills from 2003 to 2012…

And that’s just treadmills!

Almost 460,000 people were sent to the hospital in 2012 for injuries related to exercise equipment, according to the agency’s data.

And the vast majority—nearly 428,000 were treated and released for their injuries—but about 32,000 were hospitalized or were dead on arrival.

32,000?! That was alarming to us to say the least.

Some of you are shaking your heads right now thinking “Do people not know how to use these machines?!”

The reality is some people overestimate their strength/speed on a machine…

Sometimes the machine has a fault in its manufacturing leading to injuries…

Other times, we are simply not present with what we are doing and we forget that we are operating very large, potentially dangerous (as seen by the statistics) equipement.

Of course this post is not to induce fear – trust us – we want you to continue to be healthy and fit!

This is a reminder to be mindful and conscious of the level you are at in your ability to use any exercise machine….If you are not benching 250, you’ll get there!

Just don’t load up the bench bar all at once…

And remember to always consult with your doctor before pursuing any exercise regime.

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If you believe that you were injured by a faulty exercise machine or if you believe that you sustained an injury due to the negligence of a fitness property, do not hesitate to call Zanes Law, we may be able to help you!

Until then,

To you health and you safety!