Risk Factors Related to Health and Aging

Older riders may be at higher risk of injury on some types of rides due to normal effects of aging such as hardening of the arteries, arthritis, deterioration of discs and vertebrae, etc.  Use your best judgment when choosing amusement ride experiences and err on the side of caution.  Extreme thrill rides and intense water slides are not designed with senior citizens in mind.  If you're moving past life's halfway point and you choose to ride on the wild side, make sure your medical insurance premiums are paid up. 

Examples

• According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), neck sprain is the most common type of ride-related injury treated in hospital emergency rooms.  As thrill rides whip the human body around, the weight of the head exerts strong forces on the neck.  Risk factors for neck injury include:
  • Previous injuries or pre-existing medical conditions affecting the neck.
  • Strength of rider's neck.  Full-sized rides are designed for a median adult male weighing 170 pounds.  Younger, older, and more slender riders do not have as much muscle strength in their necks to hold their heads upright.  CPSC data from hospital emergency rooms indicates that women are twice as likely as men to suffer ride-related neck injuries.
  • Flexibility of rider's neck.  Older riders and people who suffer from conditions affecting flexibility and bone strength, such as arthritis should avoid high-g rides that tend to whip the rider's head around.
• In 2007, the New England Journal of Medicine published results of a Dutch study based on MRI scans of 2000 healthy adults with an average age of 63. The study, which looked at the causes and consequences of age-related brain changes, found that brain abnormalities are not that uncommon. These abnormalities, when combined with the physical and emotional stresses of an intense thrill ride, can result in serious health interactions.
• 7.2% of the participants had some dead brain tissue caused by a loss of blood flow. These so-called silent strokes don't usually result in a loss of speech or motion, but signal higher risk of vascular events.
• 1.8% of the participants had bulging blood vessels, called aneurysms. This condition can, under certain conditions, put thrill riders at risk of serious brain injury.

Amusement rides load and unload quickly, and riders may have to navigate dark hallways, steps from moving walkways or into moving vehicles, and uneven or unstable surfaces. This creates a special challenge for older riders and those with limited mobility.

• The rush to board can lead to accidents getting onto the ride, and dizziness from the ride's motion can lead to accidents getting off the ride. A little extra attention is all it takes to prevent these incidents.
• There are few standards for the load/unload portion of the amusement ride experience. That gives designers freedom to innovate new experiences, but it also means patrons should expect the unexpected. Be on the look-out for features such as open space between the platform and ride, non-uniform steps, and machinery movement that can trip you up.
• Watch the loading process before riding. There is often pressure to hurry through boarding, but don't try to move at a faster pace than is safe for you in that situation. Ask the attendant for extra help if you need it. Waiting a few extra seconds before launching the ride won't ruin anyone's day, but an accident certainly will.
• Take extra care when getting into and out of log flumes and other boat rides because the vehicles can move unexpectedly and throw you off-balance. Watch for slippery surfaces in the queue and when boarding water slides and boat rides.
• Some rides are designed to move continuously during the load process, creating more of a challenge as you step into the vehicle and adding additional risk to load/unload accidents. If you fall near moving equipment, you may be struck by the ride or catch something in the machinery.

Warning signs at most amusement parks caution patrons with heart conditions, pregnancy, and back/neck injuries against riding.  Those warnings are very important and should be taken seriously, but the discrete list of prohibitions may not cover all potentially troublesome interactions. 

Warning signs often end with a catch-all clause instructing patrons not to ride if they have any physical condition that might increase the risk of injury on the ride.  The lack of common knowledge about the physiological effects of different types of thrill rides can make it very difficult for patrons to comply with the catch-all clause.  The best advice is to discuss potential problems with your doctor before going on rides if you have a medical problem or have had recent surgery.  If you're concerned or confused, always err on the side of caution.

Examples

• Email report from a Saferparks visitor: "A few years ago my father's retinas detached on both of his eyes; surgery corrected it.  My father has always had eye problems, and it probably would have occurred someday anyway, but when his eye doctor learned he'd gone to [a theme park], he immediately attributed the detachment to the g-forces on the rides.  Yet his doctor had never told him to avoid those types of amusement park rides, even though he had a history of problems!  Only after his retinas detached was he told to avoid sudden, jerky movements."
• In the 1990s, restraint design began evolving away from over-the-shoulder (i.e., "headbanger") harnesses on high-g rides, due to injuries and customer complaints that harnesses interfere with the thrill ride experience.  Newer designs use a combination of lap bar and shin restraint to attach the patron's bottom half to the ride while allowing the patron's upper body to absorb the motion like a spring.  According to an article in Amusement Business, the new lap/shin restraint design was first used on "Son of Beast" in Ohio, a looping wooden coaster. In 2001, two men broke their necks within three weeks on Son of Beast, both from the normal forces exerted by the ride.  Both men suffered from an arthritic condition called Ankylosing spondylitis.  Standard medical advice suggests that patients remain as active as possible in order to slow progression of the disease.  The second man injured on Son of Beast routinely participated in a physically demanding activities, including skiing and riding roller coasters.  He had ridden every coaster in the park the day of his accident, but it was Son of Beast that broke his neck.  A spokesperson from the Ohio ride safety office said state regulators were confident in their decision to re-open Son of Beast following each broken neck because nothing on the ride had malfunctioned.

• Fast Cars and Wild Rides: Whiplash, Headbanging, and Sqeezeplays
• Factors that May Affect Your Tolerance to Sustained Acceleration