Upside down for 7 hours: Doctors debate survival possibilities
Key Takeaways
Being stuck upside down for extended periods, as in this case, poses serious health risks due to blood pooling in the head, which increases intracranial pressure and strains the heart.
Survival duration varies significantly with age and health status; older adults and those with heart or respiratory issues are more vulnerable to the dangers of inversion.
A woman in Australia got stuck upside down for 7 hours after attempting to retrieve her phone that she had dropped between two boulders.[]
The woman had been hiking in the Hunter Valley, a town north of Sydney, when her phone dropped into a 10-foot crevice between two rocks. She tried to grab it, bending head first into the boulders, when she slipped and fell. She remained jammed in that position for over 7 hours.
After the news broke, doctors around the world were shocked that the woman survived the fiasco relatively unscathed. “Prolonged inversion is inherently risky for everyone, especially those with underlying health conditions,” Michael Genovese, MD, JD, a physician and Chief Medical Advisor at Ascendant New York, tells MDLinx.
According to the New South Wales (NSW) Ambulance, a healthcare provider in the region, multiple boulders had to be removed to access the woman.[] The emergency responders then built a wooden frame to stabilize the surrounding rocks. It took over an hour to pull the patient out of a tight S-shaped bend. The patient “was safely freed 7 hours after her ordeal began with only minor scratches and bruises,” the NSW Ambulance stated in an October 21 Facebook post.
The impact
When someone is upside down, gravitational forces cause blood to pool in the head.[] This creates “a lot of pressure in the blood vessels and veins around the brain,” says Dr. Genovese. According to research, this interferes with normal blood circulation.[]
Over time, this pressure can lead to headaches, dizziness, fainting, or a ruptured blood vessel. This position can also cause the organs in the chest and abdomen to become compressed, which may make it more difficult to breathe, says Raj Dasgupta, MD, a pulmonary, sleep, internal, and critical care physician and Chief Medical Advisor at Fortune Recommends.
The heart has to work extra hard to pump blood throughout the body, despite the gravitational forces pulling the blood downward. “The heart must work harder than usual, as it is pumping ‘uphill’ to circulate blood against gravity,” explains Dr. Genovese.
This can strain the heart, adds Dr. Dasgupta.“When you are inverted, the body struggles to cope with the stress of fighting against gravity, resulting in heart failure and decreased delivery of oxygen to vital organs,” he says.
Serious complications
If someone is stuck in this position for too long, they may suffer serious health complications, including loss of consciousness and death, evidence suggests.[] “If left unaddressed, the increased intracranial pressure could even lead to dangerous swelling or bleeding in the brain,” Dr. Genovese says. In 2009, a man named John Jones died after being stuck upside down for 19 hours in Utah's Nutty Putty Cave.
How long can a person survive?
But just how long is too long? It depends on multiple factors, including age and underlying health, Dr. Dasgupta says. Someone who is young and in good health would most likely be able to better manage the stress of being inverted than those with heart or respiratory problems. “Those with existing health issues, especially related to the heart or blood pressure, are at greater risk and may not last as long in that position,” Dr. Dasgupta says.
Big factor
One of the biggest factors, according to Dr. Genovese, is age: “Older adults tend to have less cardiovascular resilience, which makes them more vulnerable to the effects of inversion.” In such cases, people may only be able to survive hanging upside down for up to an hour or so, Dr. Genovese suspects. Older research that investigated a roller coaster that got stuck, leaving people hanging upside down, suggests that most people can survive at least 1.5 hours in this position.[]
It’s unclear exactly how long a person can survive being in an upside down position since such incidents are extraordinarily rare.[] But one thing is clear: The longer a person is stuck, the greater the risks.