[phylt]

We have a very nice NordicTrack treadmill. It is in our Florida Room in the back of our home. My wife uses it about 5x week. This morning I was in our office in the front area of the house on the laptop sipping coffee. She was on the treadmill watching the wall-mounted TV with the FL Room doors shut.

All of a sudden I heard a muffled THUMP and a “AHHHHH!” from the back of the house. I hurried back and she was down on the floor at the rear portion of the treadmill caught with the machine running and grinding at her legs. Trapped between the rear area of the running belt and a wall. I shut it off and lifted the back tread area to get her out. She was hurting, and after laying her down on the couch saw quite a few scrapes on her knees and lower legs. One area on her calf, rubbed the epidermis layer. She was stunned. Fortunately the injuries ware all superficial but, if I was not home or outside or in the garage - she would have been trapped with the belt running at her legs.

She would not have been able to unplug it or shut it down from where she was caught. Hate to think the worst, but, yikes.

She was NOT connected to the “deadman” auto shutdown - the cord attached to the handle area. About 2’ long which should be attached to the user - belt or such. If something as happened to her, the cord would disconnect a trip a switch to shut the treadmill down. I found out that she never used it…

From now on, of course she will. I shudder to think about the What If. Talk about a horrible accident and aftermath if she was trapped like that for more than 30 seconds…..

[ThirdOfFive]

Originally Posted by phylt

We have a very nice NordicTrack treadmill. It is in our Florida Room in the back of our home. My wife uses it about 5x week. This morning I was in our office in the front area of the house on the laptop sipping coffee. She was on the treadmill watching the wall-mounted TV with the FL Room doors shut.

All of a sudden I heard a muffled THUMP and a “AHHHHH!” from the back of the house. I hurried back and she was down on the floor at the rear portion of the treadmill caught with the machine running and grinding at her legs. Trapped between the rear area of the running belt and a wall. I shut it off and lifted the back tread area to get her out. She was hurting, and after laying her down on the couch saw quite a few scrapes on her knees and lower legs. One area on her calf, rubbed the epidermis layer. She was stunned. Fortunately the injuries ware all superficial but, if I was not home or outside or in the garage - she would have been trapped with the belt running at her legs.

She would not have been able to unplug it or shut it down from where she was caught. Hate to think the worst, but, yikes.

She was NOT connected to the “deadman” auto shutdown - the cord attached to the handle area. About 2’ long which should be attached to the user - belt or such. If something as happened to her, the cord would disconnect a trip a switch to shut the treadmill down. I found out that she never used it…

From now on, of course she will. I shudder to think about the What If. Talk about a horrible accident and aftermath if she was trapped like that for more than 30 seconds…..

I'm glad your wife is OK.

In hindsight it was a hard lesson to learn, but (as you describe the situation) it could have been a lot worse. That auto-shutdown switch and cord is there to prevent precisely such incidents from occurring.

[jebartle]

Originally Posted by phylt

We have a very nice NordicTrack treadmill. It is in our Florida Room in the back of our home. My wife uses it about 5x week. This morning I was in our office in the front area of the house on the laptop sipping coffee. She was on the treadmill watching the wall-mounted TV with the FL Room doors shut.

All of a sudden I heard a muffled THUMP and a “AHHHHH!” from the back of the house. I hurried back and she was down on the floor at the rear portion of the treadmill caught with the machine running and grinding at her legs. Trapped between the rear area of the running belt and a wall. I shut it off and lifted the back tread area to get her out. She was hurting, and after laying her down on the couch saw quite a few scrapes on her knees and lower legs. One area on her calf, rubbed the epidermis layer. She was stunned. Fortunately the injuries ware all superficial but, if I was not home or outside or in the garage - she would have been trapped with the belt running at her legs.

She would not have been able to unplug it or shut it down from where she was caught. Hate to think the worst, but, yikes.

She was NOT connected to the “deadman” auto shutdown - the cord attached to the handle area. About 2’ long which should be attached to the user - belt or such. If something as happened to her, the cord would disconnect a trip a switch to shut the treadmill down. I found out that she never used it…

From now on, of course she will. I shudder to think about the What If. Talk about a horrible accident and aftermath if she was trapped like that for more than 30 seconds…..

Oh my, hope your wife has recovered from scary situation, yipsters!

[Garywt]

As I was reading I was wondering why it had not shut itself off. Thought you were going to say the cord broke or something. Never thought I would read that she does not us the safety equipment. She is lucky. Glad she is ok.

[mrsstats]

We just talked about moving our treadmill last night and DH said no since if you fell you would be trapped between the wall and the treadmill. Where we have it now you would just be thrown to the ground.

[DAVES]

I have a scar from when I cut my thumb wide open. Perhaps, it is a good thing. A reminder when you realize you should not do something, YOU SHOULD NOT DO THAT

[MSchad]

After reading this, I turned my wife’s around. The back was against the wall also. Now it’s facing the wall.