News reports have broadcast the sad, untimely death of the husband of Facebook COO, Sheryl Sandberg, David Goldberg, in a Mexican hotel gym while the family vacationed. It has come out that Mr. Goldberg died from an accident involving a treadmill in the gym, the most popular type of exercise equipment in the United States. More than fifty million Americans utilize the exercise machine and tens of thousands of users are injured, in the United States alone, each and every year. Some of these injuries, including Mr. Goldberg’s, become fatal.
In home treadmills, it seems that the belt-driven variety are the most dangerous and it is important to know that many children are injured each year by the home treadmill. Children out there are burning their hands on the moving tracks, getting their fingers caught, or even getting strangled by the treadmill cord as was the case in 2009 for Mike Tyson’s four year old little girl. Home treadmills keep getting better and cheaper so more and more people own them. The commercial treadmills used at the gym keep improving in power and technology, but with this comes accidents from the power and distractions from the technological devices (i.e. built-in television screens, virtual screens, tablet holders, and the like. It could be that many are at an increased risk of injury due to distracted walking or running while using smart phones and other electronic devices. Mr. Goldberg was found down on the floor and bleeding out after slipping and falling. It is vital that owners and users of the treadmill become educated in their proper use and use them with as few distractions as possible, without unsupervised children present.
Inserra & Kelley Law Offices wants all of you out there to get in shape safely for the warm months that have arrived and enjoy happiness and well-being.