Got Kidney Stones? Ride A Roller Coaster

A team of researchers rode Disney World's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster more than they could probably remember and found that the thrilling ride could trigger the passage of small kidney stones. Using a 3D-printed kidney model filled with urine, they figured out how.

As many may have already known, kidney stones are hard masses of minerals formed in the kidney. They can be different in size; the smallest can be like a grain of sand and in some extreme cases, the largest can be a size of a golf ball. Patients found to have kidney stones don't always need treatment because stones can be voided out of the body. However, this process can be painful since the stones need to travel from the kidney to the ureter, then the bladder before finally exiting the body through the urethra, Live Science reported.

The new study, published in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association, David D. Wartinger, a urologist, and his colleagues at the Michigan State University Colleges showed evidence to support the claim that riding a moderate-intensity roller coaster can help small kidney stones to be excreted The researchers believe that the findings, although still in its preliminary stage, could help develop an unconventional treatment for patients with kidney stones.

"When a series of patients returned from spring break with stories of passing a kidney stone after riding the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at Disney World in Orlando, I started to wonder if we had a unique opportunity to help patients," Wartinger told Gizmodo. "The moment one of my students and I realized we had to move forward was hearing from a patient who rode the ride three times and after each consecutive ride he passed a stone."

Researchers needed to showcase their talent to figure this phenomenon out. To test the effects riding a roller coaster has on small kidney stones, researchers created a 3D model of a kidney which will be with the researchers on the ride, as well. They placed three real kidney stones in different sizes small (4.5 cubic millimeters), medium (13.5 cubic mm) and large (64.6 cubic mm) and some urine in the model kidney.

Researchers then placed the model kidney in a backpack and took it for a ride on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster 20 times, each time the stones are placed in different positions in the model kidney. After that, they repeated the experiment on Space Mountain and the Walt Disney World railroad, for a total of 60 rides. Science Mag reported that researchers tracked down how far the stones traveled after being on roller coasters with varying forces. They found that sitting in the back and front of the coaster resulted in a passed stone 64% and 17% of each ride, respectively,

It is also important to note that riding a roller coaster after undergoing treatments like lithotripsy, a procedure that tries to break kidney stones into smaller particles using ultrasound shock waves, could prevent stones from getting larger and causing additional problems, Wartinger said.