Attempted 'Dirty Dancing' Lift Sends Couple to Hospital

All couples want to make a splash for their first wedding dance, but one couple from England might have taken it too far. While attempting to rehearse the iconic Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze lift from Dirty Dancing, Sharon Price and Andy Price, both in their early 50s, ended up with serious injuries.

Balance and strength can start to decrease in your 50s, making stunts like this potentially dangerous.

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The couple collided and crashed to the ground, resulting in head and back injuries for both and leaving Andy with a concussion, the BBC reports. They were rushed to the hospital and discharged six hours later, luckily with no permanent injuries. 

Andy Price and Sharon Price spent six hours at the hospital, but had no permanent injuries.

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"We were about 30 feet apart, and Sharon ran, and I grabbed her hips, and the next thing we knew we were flat out," Andy told the BBC. "I was concussed. I was out. I ended up in a neck brace and had to have a CT scan."

Know your limits

Sure, many of us have been tempted to practice the lift with our partners, particularly while swimming in a pool or lake, just as Baby and Johnny did in the 1987 film. However, it is good to know our limits, especially as we get older. 

Although we associate slip and fall risk with people in their 70s and 80s, balance actually starts to decline in our 50s. In a 2016 study published in the Journals of Gerontology, the average 30- or 40-year-old could hold a position in a balance test for a full minute, while people in their 50s made it just 45 seconds. The length of time decreased even more at advanced ages. Strength, agility and muscle mass also begin to decline in midlife, making it a good idea to leave the more adventurous lifts to professional dancers.  

However, there is no reason to give up dancing. It is a great form of aerobic exercise, and studies have shown that dancing’s unique combination of cognitive, physical and social activity might slow the effects of aging in the brain.

Fortunately, the British couple decided to go with a more traditional dance for the upcoming nuptials, with all feet firmly on the ground.