Wednesday, August 1, 2007

Roller Coaster Health Risks

Roller coasters are fun rides. They are actually the highlight of most of theme parks or amusement parks. However, due to the growing competitions between theme parks and the race to build better, bigger and more thrilling rides, roller coasters have become more dangerous than before.

Drops, dips, slides, loops and sudden turns of the roller coaster could lead to a lot of injuries even if no accidents occur while riding it. There are real health risks especially against pregnant women, people with heart attack, epilepsy, back or neck injury or those who had prior orthopedic surgeries.

Fatalities even occur long after individuals have taken a ride on a roller coaster. Some of these cases were due to undiagnosed brain and circulation problems like blood vessel abnormalities, malformations or aneurysms.

The makers of the roller coasters are bent on making more dangerous rides that challenge the threshold of human body to keep thrill seekers interested. Therefore, a person must use common sense in deciding to ride in one of the roller coasters today. In the end, you know your own limits and riding the roller coaster is fun only if you are well after the experience has passed.