An elderly man is recovering after shoving a jump rope so far up his penis that it got stuck in his bladder.
Doctors from Dokkyo Medical University detailed the story of the unidentified Japanese man in a September study published in Urology Case Reports. The 79-year-old went to see a physician after experiencing difficulty urinating. His bladder was examined, and doctors located a large, peculiar object. He admitted that he inserted a 90-inch jump rope up his penis and into the bladder.
Medics rushed him to a nearby hospital, where an X-ray revealed “a wire-like coiled foreign body.” The situation quickly turned into a serious matter when doctors discovered they could not pull the rope out through the penis hole due to it becoming entangled as the bladder contracts. Although it was no simple task, surgery was conducted by making an incision in the man’s abdomen and removing the rope.
“Transurethral extraction was difficult considering the length of the rope and its entanglement in the bladder,” explained Professor Toshiki Kijima, co-author of the study.
While the man never explained what led him to inflict such pain upon himself, such acts have been attributed to a risky sexual act known as urethral sounding. This practice is extremely dangerous, resulting in long-term, often irreversible effects. In recent years, urethra sounding has gained more popularity, though experts warn against it.
“When you introduce anything inside your body that is not sterile, you can cause a tissue infection, and these infections can sometimes be very serious and can, for example, lead to tissue necrosis or even sepsis,” explained London Professor Giulio Garaffa.
Thankfully, the man fully recovered, and no additional injury was reported.
