TikTok Milk Crate Challenge Puts Kids at Serious Risk

Aug. 27, 2021 -- A beverage crate climbing situation that has had a abrupt emergence connected societal media this past week has led to galore of its participants taking a hard fall.

The TikTok trend, which involves stacking beverage crates successful a pyramid-shaped staircase and attempting to ascent up 1 broadside and down the other, has resulted successful countless clips of radical tumbling to the crushed and injuring themselves successful the process arsenic they onshore connected their necks, sides, and backs.

Each crate situation video is simply a imaginable orthopedic injury, says George Gantsoudes, MD, a pediatric orthopedist astatine Pediatrics Specialists of Virginia. These tumbles could perchance effect successful fractures of the pelvis, collarbone, and legs, arsenic good arsenic ligament injuries successful the ankle and knee. Paralysis and associated and enarthrosis dislocations are besides possible.

“I recognize that radical request to find ways to entertain themselves, but we would decidedly admit it if radical recovered ways that weren't risking beingness and limb,” says Gantsoudes, who hasn’t had a pediatric diligent injured from the crate situation yet. “Falling from tallness is ne'er a bully thing. Gravity ever wins.”

These nasty falls, which person garnered millions of views crossed societal media platforms, person prompted the FDA and doctors to issue warnings against the viral fad.

One pistillate successful Dallas was injured aft falling onto factual from a stack of beverage crates extracurricular a state station. She is believed to person deed her caput during the fall, and footage posted online shows paramedics coming to her aid.

Also, with galore pediatric hospitals being swamped with young COVID-19 patients, immoderate of these crate situation injuries whitethorn not beryllium addressed close away. Gantsoudes says that if a kid got a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) arsenic a effect of doing the beverage crate situation and went to a infirmary overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients, it whitethorn not beryllium considered an urgent surgery.

“The archetypal COVID-19 shutdown we had past spring, [children with ACL tears] had to hold 2 to 3 months to get fixed,” helium said.

The viral fad joins a agelong database of social media challenges that person gone viral and has had perchance unsafe outcomes. The alleged Tide Pod situation -- wherever radical really ate laundry detergent pods -- resulted successful a spike successful poison power calls successful 2018, portion children who attempted the cinnamon challenge -- where, you guessed it, radical ate ample amounts of the spice -- successful 2012 enactment themselves astatine hazard for superior lung injury.

“I recognize younger radical propulsion the limits of information for entertainment, but I would accidental that immoderate genitor who knows that their kid is doing this should marque definite their kid doesn't prosecute successful this benignant of risky activity,” Gantsoudes says.

In fact, tumbling down a beverage crate operation whitethorn beryllium worse than falling from a ladder, Shawn Anthony, MD, an orthopedic surgeon astatine Mount Sinai Hospital successful New York City, told The Washington Post.

“It’s precise hard to brace yourself from the falls I’ve seen successful these videos. They’re putting their joints astatine an adjacent higher hazard for injury,” helium said.