Facebook COO`s comment on spouse death highlights the risk of treadmills

“A treadmill is one of the riskiest health machines in the world.”

As David Goldberg, SurveyMonkey chief executive and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg’s husband, died in a treadmill slip on Friday, U.S. media warned the risk of treadmills.

“There were just 30 reported deaths related to use of treadmills from 2003 to 2012, according to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission,” The New York Times said. “In 2014, there were 24,400 injuries associated with treadmills across the country.” Treadmills caused 39 percent of 62,700 injuries reported last year for all exercise equipment, which is the largest number of injuries occurred on an equipment. Dr. Joseph E. Herrera, director of sports medicine in the department of rehabilitation medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital, said, “A man who had never used one before and was flung off when he pushed buttons making it go too fast. It’s a very rare occurrence. But if it does happen, it can have severe consequences."

The Washington Post said the rise in exercise-equipment-related injuries is particularly due to the proliferation of smartphones. Smartphones cause distraction while one runs on a treadmill. The iPhone was introduced in 2007, for example, and exercise equipment injuries increased 45 percent over the next three years, the newspaper said. It also said about increasing children’s injuries on a treadmill, citing the case of Mike Tyson’s 4-year-old daughter, Exodus, who died in 2009 after getting her neck caught in a treadmill cord.

After her husband’s death, Sheryl Sandberg did not comment on Facebook and Twitter and simply changed the cover photo of her Facebook page to a picture of her and her husband in the dance party on their wedding day. After the memorial service, Sandberg posted a eulogy in which she said: “"Dave was my rock. When I got upset, he stayed calm. When I was worried, he said it would be ok. When I wasn`t sure what to do, he figured it out.”

aimhigh@donga.com