"Skullbreaker Challenge": After a serious injury: young people warn of dangerous TikTok Challenge

Again and again, TikTok challenges make the rounds, in which the users have to complete tasks.

"Skullbreaker Challenge": After a serious injury: young people warn of dangerous TikTok Challenge

Again and again, TikTok challenges make the rounds, in which the users have to complete tasks. Some of them are funny, but others are reckless and dangerous. This includes the so-called "Skullbreaker" challenge, which was popular on the video app two years ago. One person jumps into the air and others kick their feet from below, causing their back to hit the ground.

Health experts warned of the trend even then, which did not prevent many, especially young people, from taking part and filming themselves. In the case of Sarah Platt, a young Englishwoman, it even resulted in a serious injury. She accepted the challenge at a hockey game and broke several bones in her neck and a vertebra. At first it was unclear whether she would ever be able to walk again.

Two years after the accident, Platt has largely recovered. Nevertheless, she continues to suffer from postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS), a circulatory disorder in which patients suffer from palpitations, drowsiness and dizziness immediately after getting up. The 18-year-old therefore warns of the "Skullbreaker" challenge: "It was just a trend that was going around at the time. We thought it would be fun to do the video, but actually I didn't want to take part because I didn't wanted to hurt," she told The Mirror. She also took part in the challenge out of "peer pressure".

With her story, she wants to help ensure that more people don't get involved in the trend: "It can lead to injury." Her mother said Sarah was "lucky": "She's alive and able to go thank God. But we have to live with something else as a result now." There were also some injuries in Germany two years ago, when the "Skullbreaker" challenge was trending on TikTok. At the time, the Helios Klinikum Berlin-Buch warned in a video on the platform: "An unprotected fall can result in serious injuries to the spine, skull injuries and fractures."

In the case of challenges on TikTok, it is mainly young users of the app who are harmed again and again. A 14-year-old man from Scotland has just died in the Blackout Challenge, which involves choking himself until he faints. An eight-year-old and a nine-year-old girl from the United States died last year. Her parents have filed a lawsuit against TikTok. They accuse the platform of "deliberately and repeatedly" spreading the challenge and not having taken any protective measures. TikTok points out that the videos would be deleted and that users looking for the challenge on the app would be redirected to a warning.

Sources: TikTok / Helios Klinikum Berlin-Buch / "Mirror"

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