Or scariest, depending on your phobias. If you suffer from frequent kidney stones, here’s a revelation for you: the cure might be a few trips on a rollercoaster!
When a urological surgeon noticed anecdotes piling up about patients who passed small kidney stones after a visit to Disneyworld, he dug a little deeper. Most stories were tied to one particular coaster: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. He grabbed a colleague, a 3D printed silicon kidney, some kidney stones, and his own urine and tested it out. A few hundred rides later and he’d documented that, indeed, a ride on Thunder Mountain dislodged small kidney stones (especially if you sit in the back, which worked about 60 plus percent of the time!).
It’s enough evidence to get followed up with a clinical trial, so you’ll probably be hearing more about it.
For now, people with chronic kidney stones (and no fear of coasters) might be able to preemptively shake out small stones before they become big problems (like big pain, expensive scans, and expensive treatments to break them up).
In theory, any medium sized coaster will work.
If you don’t want to ride a coaster or don’t live near one (or have a prohibiting ailment like certain heart conditions, pregnancy, etc.) just stick to old fashioned preventions.
-Drink plenty of fluid, and keep your nutrition intake balanced (use a high-quality supplement instead of the low-quality stuff at supermarkets. High-quality means balanced, accurate ingredients; independent researchers have found cheap supplements are empty of anything but fillers, or just have one low-quality ingredient (like calcium—you urinate out excess, unless, of course, you’re kidney-stone prone. Always choose a high-quality daily multivitamin like Vita One).
-Exercise. Get your body moving a little bit everyday to help things pass (probably an easier bit of prevention then whirring them out on a rollercoaster). Yoga, especially trickier poses like inversion, might help too.
-Experiment (gently). Everybody has a uniquely shaped kidney, like a fingerprint. The twists and turns might be a little different for each individual, and so what works best may vary. (But water, especially over soda, teas, and other alternative drinks, works universally!).
Would you ride a coaster to prevent kidney stones and clear small ones? Share in the comments!
