Roller coasters to pass kidney stones

The painful, even torturous, waiting game of letting a kidney stone could possibly be upgraded to a roller coaster ride, according to research published this week in The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association.

The idea sounds outlandish, but there’s evidence to show coaster rides can help people pass kidney stones.

Michigan State University researchers conducted a study on two Walt Disney World roller coasters – Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Space Mountain – with a 3D silicone kidney model containing urine and three different sized kidney stones.

The researchers took the model in a backpack on 60 roller coaster rides. Their findings showed passed 64 percent of the time when sitting in the back of the roller coaster, and 17 percent of the time when at the front of the coaster.

And the researchers noted the position of the stone within the model didn’t seem to matter, according to a report about the study from MedlinePlus, a product of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

This story was originally published September 30, 2016 at 3:01 PM with the headline "Roller coasters to pass kidney stones."