A surprising revelation has been made by a healthcare professional regarding the importance of using the restroom before embarking on a long car ride.
Last month, a physician assistant student affiliated with the medical advice company Med Explained 2 You shared a TikTok video on this topic, which quickly went viral.
According to the student, peeing before a car ride could significantly improve your chances of survival in the event of an accident.
He explained that the bladder can be likened to a balloon: when you urinate, it deflates the balloon, whereas holding it in inflates it. In the case of a car accident, an inflated bladder is more likely to rupture, even if you are wearing a seatbelt. The pressure from the seatbelt can exert on a full bladder increases the risk of rupture.
If a ruptured bladder is left untreated, serious complications can arise. These may include infection resulting from urine leakage into the abdomen, sepsis, kidney failure, and even death. The student emphasized that this outcome can be devastating and lead to a rapid decline in health.
However, by emptying your bladder before getting into the car, you effectively deflate it, making it less susceptible to rupture. Although bladder ruptures are relatively rare, they are most commonly caused by trauma, such as a car accident.
Symptoms of a ruptured bladder, as outlined by the Urology Care Foundation, include blood in the urine, difficulty urinating, weak urine stream, painful urination, fever, and severe lower back pain.
To prevent bladder rupture during a car accident, the foundation recommends wearing the seatbelt across the lap instead of around the belly. The healthcare professional further explained that this positioning is more likely to result in an extra-peritoneal abdominal rupture, which is less severe.
In this type of rupture, the tear occurs at the bottom or side of the bladder, causing urine to leak into the tissues surrounding the bladder rather than into the abdomen. Generally, this condition is easier to treat.
Although bladder ruptures are rare, there have been documented cases.
For instance, a case study published in the Journal of Acute Medicine described the injury sustained by a 58-year-old man who was involved in a car accident while under the influence of alcohol. He was wearing his seatbelt at the time and underwent emergency surgery, stabilizing his condition.
Additionally, in a 2014 case report, a 30-year-old woman presented with bladder trauma resulting from a car accident that occurred five years earlier.
Overall, it is evident that emptying the bladder before a long car ride can have potentially life-saving implications in the event of an accident.
Image Credit: Shutterstock