iPods + Lightning = Pain
07.13.07 - 12:18pm
Doctors have posted a report in the New England Journal of Medicine telling a story of a jogger, the iPod and lightning.
The jogger was running along when lightning struck a nearby tree bringing a sideflash of lightning to the jogger. A lightning sideflash or flashover usually passes over the skin without causing much harm due to the high resistance of the skin but in this case the iPod got in the way.
The iPod wires conducted the electricity through the headphone wires and blew out the joggers ear drums along with causing muscle contractions powerful enough to fracture his jaw in 4 places and dislocate both jaw joints. It also burned along the wires melting the skin on his chest and face.
“Although the use of a device such as an iPod may not increase the chances of being struck by lightning, in this case, the combination of sweat and metal earphones directed the current to, and through, the patient’s head,” they said.
The episode mirrored an earlier case in which Jason Bunch a Colorado teen was struck by lightning while moving his lawn.
The lightning again caused burns to his face and ears due to the wires and set his shirt on fire.
The jogger has been left with half his hearing but still cannot hear high frequency sounds.
“He still jogs, and he bought a new iPod after the incident, but he leaves it at home now when he goes jogging,” Heffernan, a radiologist, said.
While the odds of being struck by lightning are 1 in 5000 it is still advisable to put the iPod away if you can hear thunder while out running.
“I think the message should be that, in the event that you’re jogging and get caught in a thunderstorm, make sure your iPod is not in contact with your skin and remove the earphones from your ear,” Heffernan said.
Speak Your Peace