I read you don’t have to exercise hard to be healthy so I stay away from it. I only swim. Moderate exercise is best according to a UK study. My SIL had a neighbor died of a heart attack while running in a treadmill.
OK, that makes sense the if he had an arrhythmia that cause him to lose consciousness and fall and conk his head, yes, that does make sense. So sorry for Sheryl and the family, Always tough to be a single parent when you least expect it, especially of young kids.
Yep, like my experience, a heart arrhythmia can cause a person to just drop, completely unconscious. Fall hard and hit the wrong thing and it’s not inconceivable that one could die from such an injury.
Well, I know that running has helped me stay healthier. My blood pressure and cholesterol are MUCH better than before I started running. I also do a CrossFit workout two or three times a week. I am LITERALLY the slowest, weakest person in the entire gym, but that’s OK! I am getting stronger and fitter. I am 52. I think a lot of women my age just kind of give up and don’t exercise much at all. It’s a shame.
Well, if there is a history of arrhythmia, that changes things. The previous reports were the cause of death was blunt head trauma and loss of blood. I think they sometimes prescribe blood thinners for arrhythmia (not sure), but if that were the case and you had an otherwise “normal” head cut, that could explain some things.
The message of this tragedy should not be that you shouldn’t exercise. Please keep that in mind.
Circumstances exist of course, but statistically, those who exercise regularly and to an aerobic state (so yeah, enough to break a sweat probably) are doing more good for their body (and mind) then those who don’t. The exception at both ends will always be there.
Peace to this family.
They do sometimes prescribe blood thinners for certain arrhythmias, such as atrial fibrillation, but not for all. But it’s a thought. If he was on coumadin, for example, he might have had scalp bleeding more than the average person, but not likely a fatal bleed. More likely would be a subdural hematoma or something similar exacerbated by a blood thinner.
I read that he was still alive but unresponsive when found, so my first thought was that he suffered some sort of brain bleeding.
(Just filled out a tiny marketing survey to get free international shipping from a retailer - you guessed it, they used SurveyMonkey. )
"I have some doubts and curiosity about the circumstances. But its not my call, and those involved are perfectly competent to press their own interests if necessary.
It just doesn’t seem reasonable that a fall for a 47 year old should cause death. If I were there, I’d want to know the exact location of the trauma and see whether it seemed consistent with a fall.
I realize this raises a lot of other questions and I don’t have any conjecture."
I generally don’t always look for the obvious answer myself, either. I hope there is a lengthy investigation, and the autopsy performed by someone very qualified. This is Mexico we are talking about, and there is always the potential for foul play, anywhere. If I was a family member, I sure would want to know that he wasn’t whacked in the head by someone with a baseball bat. Until they figure out all the details, they just don’t know for sure what happened.
“This is Mexico we are talking about, and there is always the potential for foul play, anywhere.”
Oh brother…
At 4:00 he went to a private workout room at the very high end villa that he and his family were vacationing at, was on a treadmill, for some unknown reason fell, hit his head, and was not found until 3 hrs later by his brother, surrounded in a pool of blood- suffering from massive cranial blood loss.
A terrible, terrible accident. No foul play.
People fall down, hit their heads, get brain injuries and die. This is not suspicious, just unlucky. People who are riding a bike at walking pace sometimes fall off the bike, hit their heads and die. It happens.
Natasha Richardson fell while skiing on a bunny slope. No one there dreamed that hours later she would be unresponsive and eventually brain dead from a seemingly innocuous fall. These kinds of things are not out of the realm of possibility.
Anyone want to speculate how an autopsy can detect and arrhythmia? Seems impossible to me. A medical history might reveal it, but not an autopsy.
A friend of mine was on one of the newer meds for his atrial fib. One of the side effects is stroke, which is what he had, while driving. He went off the road, but was able to call his wife and someone called 911. Took them a very long time to get to him, and by then he’d had a significant bleed and swelling. They were hopeful when they got him to the hospital that the craniotomy (they remove a piece of the skull and insert it temporarily in the abdominal cavity to protect it) would help to reduce the swelling and avoid further damage. Unfortunately he didn’t survive.
I just read the Times article that says injuries from falls on a treadmill are rare. That is strange, and I’m not so sure I fully believe this is not under reported since I know of three cases like this just on my own. I said three or four because with the fourth there was an associated condition and I’m not sure what role the machine played. But three had no obvious physical impairments. I know that anecdotes do not equal evidence.
Overall, of course it is much healthier to exercise and I’m not giving away my own treadmill anytime soon. I think one of the reasons this story impacted so many people, aside from the high profile, is that it happened while he was doing something many people can very much relate to doing.
Jym–tht is so sad. And, you just scared the bejeesuz out of me. 
My H is on one of the newer meds for recently diagnosed Afib–he’s very worried about it, but he also knows someone with Afib who didn’t take the drug and had a stroke. I think I’ll start an Afib thread.
Sorry to scare you.I think an afib thread is a great idea. And as an aside, my friend who died was a physician who I had worked with for many years in the past. So he knew what was happening to him when it was occurring.
^ Injuries from falls on a treadmill are rare?
I’ve seen two at my health club alone! One woman slipped and got terrible “burns” from the belt. She was not wearing the emergency stop clip. In fact, I am one of the few who wears it - it seems to be an “uncool” thing to do. I frequently have to spend time unwinding the line, other people wrap it tightly and stuff it out of the way.
The second incident was when an older man passed out and broke his wrist in the fall.
I think the article meant serious injuries. There are plenty of little mishaps like sprained ankles and bruises. I had a couple of my own (the guys in my avatar nod in agreement that it was all my fault). In a commercial gym, exercise equipment is packed tightly, so if one falls awkwardly, there are some hard objects that can cause damage to the head. So sad!!
The article meant that DEATHS from treadmill accidents are relatively unusual. The point it made was that accidents in general (small ones) are fairly common since people on treadmills are often distracted by electronics, etc.