Leave a Comment
What started as a five-on-five tug of war between work colleagues in China spiraled out of control when members of the audience joined the fray and cost one competitor (who had tied the rope around his wrist) his hand.Luckily, doctors were able to re-attach Shi's hand. But apparently tug of war is a pretty dangerous game; every few years somebody loses a limb or gets otherwise mangled by a particularly rowdy game. This got us thinking -- if a party game like tug of war can hurt us, what other seemingly safe "sports" aren't really safe at all?
Check out five more allegedly benign sports that can hurt you after the jump.
Ultimate Frisbee
In April, University of North Carolina starting quarterback T.J. Yates dislocated his thumb while playing ultimate Frisbee.
Wii
This grotesquely situated knee cap belongs to a young woman who suffered a dislocated knee after attempting to play Wii Tennis in high heels. Other Wii injuries include a man fracturing his clavicle while over-swinging during a game of Wii Baseball.
Darts
While it's easy to imagine how the majority of dart injuries occur, we were surprised to learn poorly hung boards also contribute to making darts a perilous pastime. So much so a Dutch consumer safety agency issued a special warning to new players about the dangers of dart boards "falling down on someone's foot or, worse, on someone's head."
Ping Pong
New Jersey Nets Forward Ryan Anderson was forced to miss games last year after he suffered a shoulder injury playing ping pong.
Chess and other board games
Chess injuries have always been something of geek folklore. Both Anthony Edwards' character in "Revenge of the Nerds" and Michael J. Fox's on "Family Ties" were at one point felled by a bone fracture suffered during a chess match. Sadly, we could find no such evidence of this happening in real life. Although we did uncover a first-person account of a man who suffered a near-paralyzing back injury while playing backgammon.
What other "sports" injuries have you heard about?
