After Ocean City Riders Were Stuck Upside Down, What Did That Do To Their Health?

I honestly still can't believe this happened in Ocean City.

In case you missed it, a ride at Playland's Castaway Cove malfunctioned, leaving riders hanging upside down for an estimated five to seven minutes. One terrified girl can be heard screaming for someone to get her down in the now-viral video. Honestly? I would have been screaming, too.

But watching it immediately made me wonder: How long can a person actually be upside down before it becomes dangerous?

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There Isn't A Magic Number Of Minutes

There's no universal cutoff where being inverted suddenly becomes medically dangerous. Your risk depends on things like your overall health, the angle of inversion and how you're secured in the ride.

Being completely upside down does change what gravity is doing to your body. Research has found that inversion can increase blood pressure and pressure inside the eyes.

For most otherwise healthy people, a five-to-seven-minute episode doesn't automatically mean lasting damage, but that doesn't make the experience harmless.

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What Could Riders Feel Afterward?

Once they're upright again, riders could experience dizziness, lightheadedness, headache, nausea, blurred vision or weakness, particularly while their circulation readjusts.

Those symptoms should be taken seriously if they're severe, persistent or accompanied by chest pain, trouble breathing, fainting, confusion or neurological symptoms.

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That’s the part of this whole thing that gets me: five minutes doesn't sound like a long time… until you're strapped into a ride, staring at the ground from upside down, wondering when you're getting down.

I get queasy easily these days, so my heart definitely went out to the people who got stuck. Hopefully, it doesn't deter them from boardwalk rides indefinitely.