Freaky Friday *43

Great googly-moogly! This reminds me of a gag we did on one of the residents in a trauma center, where we wheeled in a contortionist who twisted himself up like a pretzel on the gurney. Our “patient” then screamed bloody-murder when the resident tried to examine him. The resident jumped a mile and promptly fainted.

Ah, we were a cruel bunch back then.

blackholesound:

i think such exercizes may badly damage his vertebras.
after ten, twenty years from now he will be disabled in many ways. (spondylosis, spondylarthrosis etc.)

There is actually a body of evidence that shows professional contortionists suffer from far fewer joint diseases and ailments because the keep themselves supple and flexible. MR imaging has been reported to show no bone abnormalities being either causative of or resultant from, these extraordinary movements. There is some discussion and debate on whether genes play a part in making a contortionist’s ligaments a little more elastic, but I’m not convinced. There few documented cases where chronic injury has resulted from and extended career in contortion, contrasting with ballet, where such is expected.