"No, it was urine. It was mine."

September 27, 2016 6:58 AM

David Wartinger is a urologist, a professor emeritus, and a guy who is willing to ride Big Thunder Mountain with a backpack full of urine and kidney stones... for SCIENCE. The upshot is, roller coasters might help you pass kidney stones.

Sure, it may sound like he just went to Walt Disney World and tried to write it off as work, but Dr. Wartinger made some proper comparisons:

"In all, we used 174 kidney stones of varying shapes, sizes and weights to see if each model worked on the same ride and on two other roller coasters," Wartinger said. "Big Thunder Mountain was the only one that worked. We tried Space Mountain and Aerosmith’s Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and both failed."

Wartinger went on to explain that these other rides are too fast and too violent with a G-force that pins the stone into the kidney and doesn’t allow it to pass.

"The ideal coaster is rough and quick with some twists and turns, but no upside down or inverted movements," he said.

posted by Etrigan (19 comments total)

Wow, the Ig Nobel prize race for 2017 sure got off to an early start.
posted by JoeZydeco at 7:07 AM on September 27, 2016 [27 favorites]

My favorite detail is the one about urine. “Yeah, I used dilute urine. I spent my life playing in pee. I don't have that aversion to urine that most people have. The reason I didn't use water is it would've put another variable in there that wasn’t real. So I used real urine … to avoid criticism.”
posted by ChuraChura at 7:10 AM on September 27, 2016 [7 favorites]

See, when I try to do that at Disney World, I get kicked out. Maybe I should have used a more secure container.
posted by xingcat at 7:14 AM on September 27, 2016 [7 favorites]

Do we have any McElroys on MeFi? This was on the most recent My Brother My Brother and Me. Can't believe games journalists are on the forefront of urology.
posted by MuppetNavy at 7:25 AM on September 27, 2016 [3 favorites]

You know who could have used this? Samuel Pepys!
posted by dfm500 at 7:40 AM on September 27, 2016

The upshot is, roller coasters might help you pass kidney stones.

And lunch.
posted by Splunge at 8:25 AM on September 27, 2016

MuppetNavy - Justin McElroy's wife Sydnee is a doctor, maybe it crossed his path that way. They do a funny and informative podcast called Sawbones about medicine together.
posted by Wretch729 at 8:35 AM on September 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

Further evidence to support my theory that sitting at the back of Big Thunder Mountain is way better than sitting at the front!

The full paper is "Validation of a Functional Pyelocalyceal Renal Model for the Evaluation of Renal Calculi Passage While Riding a Roller Coaster", which reveals they considered using pig and cow kidney models impractical "owing to ambient temperature and the inappropriate display of such material in a family-friendly amusement park".
posted by penguinliz at 8:38 AM on September 27, 2016 [3 favorites]

It's nice to see a shift away from "woo" medicine and towards "WOOOOOO!!!" medicine.
posted by redsparkler at 9:51 AM on September 27, 2016 [22 favorites]

Never ride with this guy on Splash Mountain.
posted by zippy at 10:38 AM on September 27, 2016 [7 favorites]

Seven years ago, that road outside our local hospital was in serious need of patching. I could have saved him a FastPass.
posted by dances with hamsters at 10:58 AM on September 27, 2016

Don't worry about the guy carrying his backpack onto the rollercoaster. He's just taking the piss.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 12:07 PM on September 27, 2016 [4 favorites]

So this was really about wee?
posted by kinnakeet at 1:05 PM on September 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

That kidney model is fascinating, it's strangely simple looking, for want of a better word. On googling it seems like "the jump and bump method" gets suggested as a home remedy for kidney stones, and on the surface I would have assumed it's all too twisty in there for something so straightforward to help at all, so it's cool to see it directly demonstrated.

> Further evidence to support my theory that sitting at the back of Big Thunder Mountain is way better than sitting at the front!

Back seat all the way. I bet there's some coaster enthusiast phrase like "front seat for the view, back seat for the ride" because of the way the back gets whipped around by the weight of the rest of the train.
posted by lucidium at 1:26 PM on September 27, 2016

The back seat gets more airtime because it goes over the crests of hills quicker than other parts of the train.
posted by clorox at 2:15 PM on September 27, 2016

I am familiar with this line of research

For you see, I was once a teacher on a field trip to Disneyland with her students

And one of those students forgot to go to the bathroom prior to getting on Big Thunder

And since that student was seated in front of me a ways with one of his classmates

I was one of the first to be splattered with his poorly-timed and barely-contained mid-ride pee break

Where do I go to provide input on this study

I have much more to say on the topic
posted by Hermione Granger at 4:52 PM on September 27, 2016 [6 favorites]

Hermione Granger: "Where do I go to provide input on this study
I have much more to say on the topic"

Potterheads, here's an interesting image for you. Enjoy
posted by andycyca at 5:40 PM on September 27, 2016

This really isn't that surprising. My dad has had terrible kidney stones since I was a child, a condition I unfortunately inherited. Whenever he has an attack, he goes out and gets on his riding lawn mower. 8 times out of 10, it will pass with a few trips around the yard. Sometimes they are too big and need more time but the smaller ones can be coaxed out with lots of water and an afternoon on the mower. He's done this for years.
posted by pearlybob at 7:10 PM on September 27, 2016 [6 favorites]

Funny – just listening to Aerosmith makes me pass stones.
posted by not_on_display at 12:23 AM on September 28, 2016