SCIENCE CORNER

THERE is good news for the people with small kidney stones that now they can get rid these stones just by riding on a roller coaster. There were numerous reports in USA that after frequent rides on roller coasters, people passed their kidney stones, which were troubling them for years.

In order to check this hypothesis scientifically two researchers, from Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine in East Lansing, planned to perform an experiment. Since neither of the two had kidney stones themselves, they prepared 3-D life-size plastic replica of the branching interior of a human kidney. Then they inserted three artificial stones and human urine into the kidney model. The stones were of the sizes that usually pass on their own, generally smaller in diameter than a grain of rice.

They packed the models in their backpacks and boarded in different cars of a roller coaster again and again.
The study revealed that stones significantly moved after each ride. It seems that shaking; twisting and diving from on high could help small stones to dislodge themselves from the kidney’s inner maze of tubules. Study also reflected that small and relatively less horny stones move faster than bigger stones.

Relatively more dislodging of stones have been observed when the researchers boarded on cars at the rear of the coaster. Bumpy rides can be more effective in dislodging the stones settled for years in kidneys. The study report was published in Journal of the American Osteopathic Association.