Good Morning America Strikes Again

I came across a recent video on YouTube the other day from good morning America that described an 11-year-old boy, who died after injuring his ankle on a treadmill. Immediately I knew I had to click on this article and see exactly what they were talking about. The rest of this article, in addition to the video above, I’ll give my take on the video. Good morning America created. A simple treadmill killed this 11 year old boy… does that mean it could be the same for you?

Here’s What Happened

For starters, I want to give out my sympathy to the family about the boys death. This honestly is a terrible thing, and I hope that they are dealing with this well. Unfortunately, good morning America has turned this story into something that is “newsworthy”, even though it really shouldn’t be. What actually happened, according to the video, is that the boy fell off the treadmill, and injured his ankle from this event. A few weeks later he developed a viral rash near the side of the injury, which quickly developed to something fatal in his body. It was noted that this viral rash is incredibly rare, and that the source of it might have been from a small scratch from the injury. The type of bacteria noted in the infection, is similar to the strand often found in strep throat.

Here’s The Problem

The main problem I have with this article is the fact that people will probably look at the headline, and immediately think that exercise is deadly for them. As noted by a public health expert in the video, this infection is incredibly rare. So not only is the chance of actually getting this infection and dying very rare, the chances of it happening, particularly because you got injured during exercise is even more unlikely. There is always some inherent risk with exercise. Just like there is inherent risk with being unhealthy and doing nothing to improve your overall wellness. The barriers for people to participate in exercise is already extremely difficult, which is why articles and headlines like this lead to even more people being afraid to exercise. The most important thing to remember when first starting out in your fitness journey, is to do things you’re comfortable with, not afraid of, and can imagine doing for a long amount of time. The chances of you hurting yourself, and even dying while following these guidelines is virtually nothing.

One More Thing

In addition to this, the headline noted the boy died after an ankle injury on the treadmill. The actual headline noted nothing about the fact that he actually died from a viral rash that may or may not have been related to his ankle injury. There is no way to fully know if the ankle injury itself is what caused an open wound, leading to the spread of the infection. News stations love taking anything health and fitness related and running with it, which is incredibly unfortunate because it can be setting people up for long term failure.

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Before You Go

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#treadmill #gym #fitness #goodmorningamerica #gma #death