Subject: Re: Is Bungee jumping dangerous?
Date: 19 May 1994 17:02:21 -0400

Yes and no.
Given that there are several articles available detailing
bungee-related injuries, yes.
Given that we don't know the percentages of safe vs. unsafe jump
sites and safe vs. reported & documented injuries, probably not.
True: bungee jumping has injured some folks.

Medline to the rescue again:

1] Simons, R. Krol, J.
Visual loss from bungee jumping.
LANCET. 1994, Apr 2. V343(8901). P 853.

2] Habib, NE. Malik, TY.
Visual loss from bungee jumping.
LANCET. 1993, Feb 19. V343(8895). P 487.

3] Torre PR. et al.
Bungee jumper's foot drop peroneal nerve palsy caused by bungee
cord jumping.
ANNALS OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE. 1993 Nov. V22(11). P 1766-7.

4] Hite PR et al.
Injuries resulting from bungee-cord jumping.
ANNALS OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE. 1993 June. V22(6). P 1060-3.

5] Harries, M.
The ups and downs of bungee jumping [editorial].
BMJ (British Medical Journal). 1992 Dec 19-26. V305(6868). P 1520.

Juicy details:
A 19-year-old woman sustained a nonfatal hanging injury.
A 28-year-old man sustained a unilateral loced facet with resultant
quadriplegia.
"To date there have been five recorded deaths world wide, and four
critical injuries." --1994.
An 18-year-old woman presented with loss of central vision in both
eyes after a bungee jump.
"As expected, subjective ratings on anxiety and stress increased
prior to the jump (and were markedly reduced after the jump)."
"No previous report of (peroneal nerve injury) in bungee-cord
jumping." --1993.

Realise that you stand a risk of being injured if you bungee jump.
Note also that this is a NEW sport and that absence of recorded
injury does NOT mean the sport is safe, only that up until now very
few injuries have been attributed SOLELY to bungee-cord jumping and
discussed in medical journals. Try it at your own risk, and ask
your doctor first. :)
Best case scenario: You succeed in leaping off a tall place and
have no injuries and impress your wuss friends who aren't inclined
to risk their necks after watching that guy hurt himself on
"America's Funniest Home Videos" or whatever. (The guy who
discovered too late that the cord was [a] too long and [b] not
strong enough to zap him back up due to his weight and [c] not
attached properly to his body.)
(He lived.)
Worst case scenario: You jump and manage to suffer vision loss,
nearly hang yourself, become paralysed, suffer stress and anxiety,
then die as you fall off the cord. Your wuss friends are not
impressed. Your tombstone says, "HECK! That doesn't look dangerous
to ME." Your screams echo for a while, a doctor names your symptoms
after himself and gets rich and famous, your parents are bummed,
you cat runs away and is never seen again.

:)
Note also, that since bungee-jumping is so new, people could be
sustaining injuries that either will show up later on and annoy
them in their old age or which are cumulative.
I was going to make a crack about evolution and survival of the
fittest, but I'm a wuss and wouldn't leap off a tall thing with a
bungee cord attached to me for a LOT of money, so I need to hush up
and let some folks who WOULD, except that it is unsafe, speak their
minds instead.