A new dangerous game initiated by TikTok is spreading in school and college playgrounds in Europe. Called the comma game, it consists of twisting the necks of your friends… for a laugh. But the consequences can be extremely serious, as Dr. Kierzek, emergency physician, explains.
Be careful if you have children in primary or secondary school: after the scarf game or the scar challenge last year, a new dangerous “game” is appearing in schoolyards. The comma game, as it is called, consists of twisting the necks of one’s friends, preferably by surprise. A phenomenon widely relayed and popularized by the TikTok network.
A comma, what is it?
According to the dozens of videos posted online, making a “comma” means grabbing the back of the victim’s head with one hand, and with a quick gesture, cracking their neck or at least cracking it. rotate the head in a comma motion. An act which does not constitute harassment: if certain videos evoke a victim chosen at random, for an effect of surprise, others are made between perfectly consenting friends, who try, for example, to perform the “fastest comma of Europe”. The problem here is that the act that touches the neck is not trivial, and can lead to dramatic consequences, which these laughing children do not seem to realize.
@raph.mtp.34540 #comma #vie#humour#fyp#pourtoi #foryou #pov ♬ original sound – Orazz
A risk of cervical injuries
As Dr. Gérald Kierzek, emergency physician and medical director of TipsForWomens, points out, this child’s play is not only irresponsible, it is dangerous. “The neck is a strategic and vulnerable area in the human body, there we find the muscles, the vertebrae which allow the mobility of the head and also all the nerves which come down from the brain. By acting on your friend’s neck by surprise, you risk causing “whiplash” and cervical injuries such as a cervical sprain or a fracture of the odontoid (the C1 and C2 vertebrae). Getting hurt like this is perfectly stupid.”
Establishments and parents are starting to mobilize
Like any TikTok trend, the comma game spreads quickly. But establishments have already reacted by practicing prevention. Thus, a report made in a college in the south of Landes last Friday prompted the sending of a prevention message to all school heads in the region as well as to parents. Also on the social network, parents are trying to use the same channel to warn young people and adults of the dangers of the comma, hoping to reach unconscious adolescents more easily.
@mademoisellesvp Talk about it to your children and share #jedangereux #lavirgule #prevention ♬ original sound – @Mademoisellesvp