Some doctors discourage dangerous Milk Crate Challenge

Step by step, participants walk precariously up a pyramid of milk crates, inching closer to greatness or, more likely, a trip to the emergency room that will be viewed by millions. When they fall — and they usually do — throngs of people who’ve helped make the social media spectacle known as the Milk Crate Challenge into the latest viral phenomenon proceed to sing a chorus of “oh!” and “ah!” as the pyramid collapses and a person’s body painfully lands on a milk crate or the ground.

The Milk Crate Challenge — which has people walking up and down stacks of empty milk crates in the shape of a pyramid — has gone viral in recent days, with the often catastrophic results shared by millions across social media and some proclaiming it to be “the funniest challenge since the Ice Bucket Challenge.”

But many have noted that the Milk Crate Challenge has taken up where the Tide Pod Challenge left off as a viral meme that’s become a public health hazard largely fueled by social media. Some doctors are also warning that the injuries from the challenge are putting more stress on hospitals at a time when emergency rooms nationwide are overwhelmed because of the surge in coronavirus infections.

“Everyone needs to do their part in supporting first responders and health care providers, and that involves not partaking in challenges like this one that are putting additional strain on the system,” Shawn Anthony, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, told the