Six Weird Ways to Wind Up In The Hospital

Hey gang, Gary on this one and I'm going way, way back.  Shortly after they invented fire and the wheel, I was spending a Saturday at my Aunt Be's house.  I was in the 5th grade and as kids that age will often do, I got bored.  Too bored for my own good. 

It was then that I had the epiphany.  Aunt Be had a round footstool at the foot of her recliner.  I'd turn that thing on its side and log roll.  That lasted the better part of two minutes until I fell off and broke my wrist.  There aren't many stranger ways to land in the hospital, but thanks to ABC News, we've discovered six real doozies.

1.  Skinny jeans.  If they're tight enough, they can pinch the nerves at the tops of your thighs, and lead to a condition called meralgia paresthetica.  Sometimes it requires surgery to fix the problem.

2.  A fat wallet.  If you keep your wallet in your back pocket, you're twisting your spine every time you sit down.  It could lead to sciatica and even herniated discs.

3.  Flip-flops.  If you're always gripping them with your toes to keep them from falling off, it could lead to tendonitis.

4.  Drinking too much water.  This is kind of hard to do.  But too much water can dilute the essential nutrients in your blood.  And in an extreme case you could actually die.

5.  Intense workouts.  Aside from dehydration and heat sickness, you can get something called rhabdomyolysis . That's when your muscles start to break down and leak protein into your bloodstream.  (We actually talked to a Benton guy who's suffered from this before due to his work in the oil fields.)

6.  Sneezing.  The pressures in your neck and head go way up when you sneeze.  Enough that you could even wrench your spinal column and be partially paralyzed.  And if you sneeze with your mouth and nose closed, you could blow out your larynx.