Is your gym in the pink of health?

Pushpa Girimaji

Recently, my friend suffered a serious injury when the treadmill on which she was exercising at a gymnasium suddenly gathered speed and threw her out. Are such incidents common? I am now worried about exercising on a treadmill.

You need not be worried so long as the gymnasium is using standard, certified equipment and getting it serviced regularly through qualified personnel. Equally important is the fact that the gym has qualified trainers to supervise the exercise.

In the absence of such diligence, accidents could happen with any of the gym equipment (and not just a treadmill) and have been happening. Unfortunately, we do not have statistical data on the subject. Some years ago, a 47-year-old woman working on a treadmill at a health club in Delhi suffered serious injuries in a similar incident. Here too, the treadmill had suddenly gathered speed, resulting in her falling off the machine. Last year, a young man collapsed while exercising on a treadmill at a gym in Delhi, suffered a head injury during the fall and died.

Such incidents have been reported from other cities too. Some years ago, a young executive damaged his shoulder ligament and subsequently suffered a dislocated shoulder; a young girl suffered damage to her internal organs while trying to get her body toned with a vibrating machine. There have also been cases of fitness enthusiasts suffering severe back pain and neck pain, thanks to an exercise regime conducted under a poorly qualified trainer. So basically, one needs to do due diligence before choosing a gym.

These incidents also bring into sharp focus the need for gyms to have qualified physicians, who can first get the person joining the fitness centre go through some basic tests to assess the physical state of the person and then chalk out an exercise and fitness regime for each individual with the help of a qualified trainer/physiotherapist and dietician. Also, there has to be constant supervision. In the absence of such supervision, consumers could end up with serious injuries. Similarly, the equipment in the fitness centres have to be regularly serviced and maintained so as to avoid any malfunctioning of the equipment, leading to injuries and accidents.

In the United States, for example, exercise equipment were responsible for as many as 62,700 injuries requiring emergency treatment in 2014 and, out of them, injuries from treadmills constituted the largest number — 24,400. In the previous years too, there were as many accidents involving treadmills — 23,900 in 2013 and 24,600 in 2012. There were also 30 reported deaths associated with treadmills between 2003-2012 or an average of about three per year. The information is based on the collection of data from hospitals through the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) of the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission.

So, consumers need to first check the fitness of the gym — the quality of the equipment and the personnel — before joining. 

Can my friend seek compensation from the gymnasium for the injury caused? He says that the gym had got him to sign an agreement saying that he will not hold the gym responsible for any accident. They have also collected fee for the entire year in advance and are refusing to refund it for the remaining nine months as my friend does not want to go there anymore.

Forcing you to pay the fee for the entire year is an unfair policy. So is asking the consumer to sign an agreement saying that he or she will not hold the gym accountable for any accidents or injuries. So, do not worry about the terms of the contract. If the injury to your friend was caused on account of a poor quality or poorly maintained equipment, the gym has to take responsibility for that. Your friend has to write to the gym management asking for refund of the fee paid and also compensation for the suffering caused. Hopefully, the gym will respond positively. Else he will have to lodge a complaint before the consumer court. However, do ask him to keep records of the doctor’s diagnosis of the injury and the treatment advised as well as the bills pertaining to the treatment. This will be required while lodging a complaint with the gym and the consumer court later.