Possible Brain Trauma Resulting from Roller Coasters

There have been multiple recorded incidents of brain trauma that have allegedly resulted from an individual riding a roller coaster. However, these findings remain heavily controversial and no evidence currently exists to prove that roller coasters directly cause brain injury. Many scientists now believe that the high tension of an amusement park ride merely exacerbates an existing condition, as previous conditions have been found in some patients and the forces produced on a roller coaster do not appear to be powerful enough to cause brain trauma.
Headaches and other symptoms after roller coasters
Some individuals in the studies reported severe headaches after riding high-G amusement park rides. One individual, a 64-year-old man, was reported to be healthy, with no history of medical problems aside from hypertension, who suddenly developed recurring headaches over a 10-week period after riding eleven times on a roller coaster that, according to the man, spun him upside down“ more than six times." Another woman, likewise with no significant medical history described severe headaches after riding. She also developed severe nausea. A 20-year old man who had been in a motorcycle accident that exhibited no signs of head trauma also reported headaches after riding two large roller coasters.
Diagnosis
While the diagnosis of neural injuries sustained by individuals riding roller coasters varies greatly from case to case, the most common injury recognized is a subdural hematoma, possibly indicative of the high gravitational forces causing diffuse axonal injury to an individual. While diffuse axonal injury is most often associated with acute subdural hematomas, cases of chronic subdural hematomas have also been reported. Occasional aneurysms have been reported as well, but these appear to be less frequent. Most injuries have been reported in the subdural space and the arachnoid mater surrounding the brain. Arachnoid cysts developed in one of the individuals who experienced headaches after a roller coaster ride, but the presence of arachnoid cysts in relation to roller coaster injuries is relatively rare. Some patients do not have a past history of head trauma and are perfectly healthy, having no significant previous medical conditions at all. There are no factors regarding particular susceptibility among age or gender, as cases of neural trauma have been reported in people of varying ages and genders.
Causes
Most of the injuries reported on roller coaster rides appear to have been caused by arteries in the region of the brain tearing, which leads to bleeding inside the brain or a buildup of blood in the arteries. No direct head trauma has been reported in any of these roller-coaster trauma cases. Most doctors who treat these cases assume that the gravitational forces pulling riders’ heads in different directions is enough to rupture arteries in the brain, especially in the delicate arachnoid mater. These injuries occurred most commonly on roller coasters such as shuttle or corkscrew roller coasters, in which the individual was subject to inversion or frequent changes in direction, due to the higher head rotational acceleration these roller coasters cause. This head rotational acceleration is what many scientists see as the actual cause of roller-coaster-related brain injuries. Diffuse axonal injury is known to occur when rapid head rotational acceleration occurs, which supports the hypothesis that the subdural hematomas found in many of the victims of the roller coaster rides were caused directly by experiences on the roller coaster.
Case studies
According to the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, a subdural hematoma was reported in a 45-year old woman with no previous serious medical issues. The woman reported pain in her head after riding a roller coaster 5 weeks before admission. The woman reported 2 days of experiencing right occipital headache that increased in intensity over time, nausea, and worsening left-foot drop. The woman was discovered to have a 2.5 cm subacute subdural hematoma, in addition to midline shift, subfalcine herniation, and suggestion of transtentorial herniation. The study reasoned that the rotational acceleration forces caused by the roller coaster caused the brain to deform. An evacuation was successfully performed upon the woman to remove the hematoma.
Another case of brain trauma was reported in the European Journal of Paediatric Neurology. A 13 year-old girl was admitted to the emergency room after riding a “giant” roller coaster in Mexico City two weeks before. The girl reported hemiparesis on the right side of her body, as well as cephalea in the frontal part of the head. An MRI subsequently revealed a large subacute subdural hematoma in the frontal and parietal lobes of her brain. The cause of the subdural hematoma was proposed to be the rotational acceleration forces of the roller coaster, which affected the girl due to a combination of dehydration, caused by the warm climate and anatomical features of the girl’s skull.
A 20 year-old man with a past history of subdural hygroma after suffering a motorcycle accident in which he developed cerebral contusions and went into a coma. The man was admitted to a hospital in Tokyo three weeks after riding a roller coaster. The man suffered no head trauma or headache during the roller coaster ride. A routine MRI to check on his hygroma three weeks after the roller coaster determined the man to have a 2.5 centimeter-thick chronic subdural hematoma in the right portion of his brain. Scans of the hematoma indicated recent hemorrhaging. The hematoma was promptly removed through surgical evacuation.
Controversy and the University of Pennsylvania study
The reports of brain trauma as a result of roller coasters spilled out into the mainstream media, provoking reports from networks like ABC and newspapers like the New York Times about the possible dangers of roller coasters. Due to this heightened awareness, discussion arose in Congress about possible legislation to limit the amount of gravitational force a roller coaster could exert on a rider.
A team at the University of Pennsylvania conducted a study on the gravitational forces exerted by roller coasters, partially in response in response to the Congressional discussion. The study claims that humans can exert stronger gravitational forces on themselves by sitting down (8-10 Gs) than powerful roller coasters can produce (4-6 Gs.) However, this same study lists 5-9 Gs as the maximum limit for humans to be able to withstand, which is incongruous with a force of 8-10 Gs being exerted on a person sitting down. The University of Pennsylvania study of three roller coasters found that the head rotational acceleration produced was only 139-502 rad/sec2, while the maximum force needed to tear the parasagittal veins and cause subdural bleeding was 4,500 rad/sec2. The study postulates that the individuals known to have had subdural hemorrhaging after riding a roller coaster must have had weak blood vessels, causing them to rupture under minimal stress.
Possible Vertebral Injuries Caused by Roller Coasters
Roller coasters have also been reported to have caused spinal injury. A study in 1992 and 1993 by researchers at the Oregon Health Sciences University School of Medicine concluded that out of what was estimated to be between 300,000 and 600,000 riders of a roller coaster in Texas, 656 back injuries were reported, out of which 39 were determined to be significant. Seventy-two percent of these individuals suffered a cervical disk injury, with a majority having injuries at C5-6 and C6-7.
Bilateral cervical vertebral artery dissection was also reported in a woman after she had suffered blurred vision for two weeks, headaches for one month and vertigo for 5 months. It was proposed that violent head movements during the ride were the cause of the injury, just as it was proposed for the reports of brain trauma.

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