REVEALED: The most dangerous at-home gym equipment that could send you to the hospital... as data shows 400,000 hurt by fitness gear every year

Sometimes trying to get healthier doesn't go smoothly.

Exercise equipment like treadmills, stair steppers and medicine balls sent almost half a million Americans to the emergency room in 2022, according to a new analysis.

Roughly 445,642 people visited the hospital in 2022 because of gym equipment, while another 719,335 required treatment for injuries related to basketball and cycling, combined.

Wounds and other injuries related to exercise gear include everything from bone fractures, severe bruises, cuts and concussions to muscle sprains, according to consumer safety experts Safety America.

Using cardio equipment like treadmills has been associated with friction burns when the belt rubs on the skin.

While the home is the place most would count as the safest, around 78 percent of all injuries happen there, according to the National Safety Council.

'This study sheds light on the critical importance of product safety and the need for continuous improvement in design standards to protect consumers,' personal injury lawyer Bader Scott, who worked on the analysis, said.

The data was collected by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), which tracks annual injuries based on information from 96 different US hospitals.

Exercise equipment, according to CPSC's definition, can include a wide range of things like aerobics materials, medicine balls, resistance bands, weights, gymnastics bars, exercise bikes, boxes for jumping, ellipticals, hiking, jogging, jump ropes, rollers, treadmills and stair steppers. 

Their 2022 findings revealed that injuries on at-home exercise equipment is more common than you might think - and has even led to massive recalls. 

In 2021, the fitness giant Peloton recalled 126,000 of their Tread+ treadmills after 72 people reported injuries - including cuts, burns and broken bones. One child died after being sucked into and trapped under the machine. 

Stairmaster recalled 3,500 of it's stair stepper machines in 2018, after some models were found to be accelerating automatically - leading to falls and injuries. 

A 2014 study found that most of all home exercise related injuries- about 66 percent - were caused by treadmills. 

'There are all kinds of dangers with treadmills, because they’re machines,' Clark Stevenson, owner of Treadmill Doctor, a treadmill repair company, told WSILTV.

Treadmills were responsible for some of the over 400,000 injuries in 2022, according to a new analysis

Other studies have found that free weights like dumbbells can be dangerous. 

A 2021 report from financial services company Compare the Market found that people lifting weights that were too heavy for them led to upper body strains, sprains, and dislocations.

Accidents with fitness equipment tends to happen when people don't understand how to use it, Kris Geier, director of Connecticut gym Sportsplex told Connecticut Health Team. 'Accidents happen because people are in an environment that they are not used to,' he said.

Other findings from the CPSC report include that men were more likely than women to get injured while trying to exercise.  

Men were 451 percent more likely to get injured while playing basketball than women. 

Men were almost three times more likely to hurt themselves while biking- accounting for 302,801 injuries in 2022.  Women accounted for 102,467 injuries. 

Men were overall 31 percent more likely to be hurt while using exercise equipment than women. 

One study found that lifting weights could lead to the most injuries, related particularly to poor form and lifting too heavy of weights

The study also looked at other common reasons for household injuries, and found that the worst culprit was your house itself.

Stairs, ramps, landings, and floors account for an astonishing 2,865,817 estimated injuries each year. 

This likely has to do with the fact that accidental falls are the number one cause of non-fatal emergency room visits in America, according to Mr Scott.  

Each year, at least 3 million older Americans are treated in the ER from injuries related to a fall, the CDC reports. 

Other interesting items that made the top then included beds, mattresses, clothing, ceilings and tables. 

People over 65 represented 45 percent of all injuries related to mattresses and bedding. This could be because elderly people are at higher risk for falling as they get out of bed, and may be more likely to develop pressure related injuries, like bed sores, according to Johns Hopkins. 

Knowing about these risks could help you avoid getting hurt in the future, Scott said. 

'Awareness is key to prevention. By understanding the risks associated with these common products, consumers can take proactive steps to safeguard themselves and their families,' Scott said.