SOUTH-EAST ASIA (PA Media/dpa): A podiatrist has said TikTok users risk "a lifetime of pain and disability" by copying a viral trend to drop objects including air fryers and toasters on their feet.
Creators on the short-form app have shared videos of themselves dropping heavy objects - including a vacuum cleaner, a glass jug and a wooden table - on their foot and ranking how painful each item is.
The hashtag #droppingthingsonmyfoot has been used on hundreds of videos.
Luke Pilling, from Bolton, received more than 3.8 million views for a video which shows him jumping around his room in pain after dropping a toaster, air fryer and computer monitor on his lowest extremity.
Asked why he decided to join the trend, the 19-year-old sales adviser told the PA news agency: "Curiosity and just because it was funny.
"I love making content that I just like laughing at myself."
However, Dr Benjamin Bullen, lecturer in podiatric medicine at Ireland's University of Galway, said the trend could risk lasting damage.
"I find the viral #droppingthingsonmyfeet TikTok trend troubling and strongly encourage readers not to engage in this risky challenge," he told PA.
"This trend, encouraging participants to drop sharp and increasingly heavy household objects on their feet, is highly likely to result in foot injuries.
"TikTok is particularly popular among young people, who may be setting themselves up for a lifetime of pain and disability, if they significantly damage the nerves, bones and joints of their feet."
After the success of his first video, Pilling created made more feet-crushing content in an effort to "build (his) platform"”.
However he said a video of him dropping a drill on his foot was taken down after it breached TikTok community guidelines.
He believes the trend has become so popular because "people like seeing people in pain", but urged others to consider the weight of objects involved.
"I think it's funny when you're going to drop something that's moderately going to hurt, but if it's genuinely going to injure you and take up the NHS's time, then that's when it gets a bit too much," he said, referring to Britan's National Health Service (NHS).
Reece Brierley, from Manchester, convinced himself initially he would not recreate the trend, but said he wanted "to know how it felt".
The 25-year-old TikToker shared a video of him wincing in pain after dropping his dog, an old toaster and a vacuum cleaner on his foot, which received more than 337,000 views and ranked the toaster a score of seven out of 10 for pain.
Brierley, who works in car detailing, believes social media users enjoy watching people's real-time reaction to pain.
"If you follow a person, you follow them for them and their personality," he told PA.
"If you're just being you when things land on your feet and your reactions are quite funny, and people already like it, people will just watch the trend for you and your reaction."
Brierley said he created a second video because "it brought people to my page", and he was also able to monetize some of his videos.
While he did not disclose how much money he earned from the videos, he acknowledged the opportunity of financial gain could encourage people to take part, but raised concerns about people recreating the trend after he earned money from some of his videos.
"Generally, people are going to do (the trend) anyway but now you can monetize it, so people are going to do it more," he said.
"People probably will jump on it for the views and for the fame, but I also think people would just do it regardless.
"There are a lot of people that do focus on content like that because it's proven that it works. If it's already been done before and it works, why wouldn't they do it again?"
While he found the trend funny, Brierley acknowledged the activity is "pretty stupid", adding: "I do not advise anybody to do it."
The PA news agency understands TikTok implements safety teams to detect hashtags linked to potentially harmful trends and removes content appearing to promote dangerous behaviour which breaches its community guidelines. - PA Media/dpa
