The latest TikTok challenge has seemingly resulted in a fractured spine for a 32-year-old woman.
The so-called “Nicki Minaj High School Challenge” is prompting people to balance on things while wearing stiletto high heels.
In one of the most talked-about instances, Mariana Vasiuc, who’s trying to build her career as an influencer, attempted the challenge, but fell, saying she fractured her spine.
Some people are calling foul, saying she made up parts of the story just for attention.
The latest social media challenge involves balancing while wearing stilettos
Image credits: mariana_vasiuc
Image credits: mariana_vasiuc
It might be the TikTok challenge of the summer, but for 32-year-old Mariana Vasiuc, it’s been a dangerous one too.
In her 2013 video for her song High School, Minaj poses in high heels, by the side of a pool.
Image credits: Nicki Minaj
She’s wearing stiletto high heels and has squatted down, legs crossed, balancing precariously, on both feet.
This is the “challenge” that people are trying to recreate, many times, perched atop something else, even though Minaj’s original pose was on the ground.
For Vasiuc, the challenge reportedly landed her in the hospital.
Mariana Vasiuc attempts the challenge with terrible results
Image credits: mariana_vasiuc
The video starts with Vasiuc in a kitchen.
She’s in black heels and is trying to do the pose on top of a container of baby formula, which is on top of a saucepan, which is on top of the kitchen counter.
She’s steadying herself while holding someone’s hand.
Steady… steady… then she releases the hand, and falls backward. The video ends with Vasiuc in mid-air.
“Irony? Karma? Or just life”: Maria Vasiuc says she injured herself while attempting the challenge
Image credits: mariana_vasiuc
The 32-year-old posted the clip to her Instagram account with the caption:
“I decided to start blogging, the first content shooting – and here I am leaving the doctor diagnosed with ‘Th9 compression bending uncomplicated fracture of the body.’”
Her post went on to ask: “Irony? Karma ? Or just life, which always tests our strength at the most unexpected moment. 🤣”
Image credits: mariana_vasiuc
“If interested, I will tell you in detail in stories, how the shooting went and what happened next,” she said, although those details do not appear anywhere else on her IG page, or in any other news stories.
The video went viral, with several publications picking up the story.
A few days later, she once again posted the clip of her fall, but this time with screenshots of all the headlines of publications that had covered the story.
The caption read: “Because of one video, which was unsuccessfully filmed, I woke up a popular person. More than 50 people sent me my reel from different publications today…” Vasiuc wrote.
“People, thank you for your popularity, for your concerns and for your comments.
“I’m doing great, following the guidelines and now living in ‘star’ status,” the caption read.
Image credits: mariana_vasiuc
She closed the post with a message saying that she would not be speaking to journalists.
She also noted that her newborn son “is also calm, he has two nannies and while I was filming one of them was with him,” explaining that her weeks-old child was not unattended during her fall and subsequent hospital trip.
“Stupid challenge = stupid people”: Netizens react to Vasiuc’s fall while attempting the challenge
Image credits: mariana_vasiuc
Netizens are having a field day over the post.
Several people pointed out that in the original music video, Minaj is on the ground, not delicately balanced on anything.
“The thing people keep overlooking is Nikki was on flat ground with BOTH feet planted,” one netizen wrote.
Image credits: nickiminaj
Other netizens called the challenge ridiculous: “Stupid Challenge = Stupid People.”
One person got poetic: “Common sense is a flower that (apparently!) doesn’t grow in everyone’s garden.”
But many others are noting that the video never shows her hitting the ground, so it’s unclear what really happened.
“Who else came here for the broken spine?” one person asked, referring to the fact that netizens were hoping to see a video of the woman falling.
“Wait so she didn’t break her spine? That’s literally what the article said,” someone else noted.
“No broken spine. Racking up the ‘influencer’ credit,” said another, referring to the fact that Vasiuc is just starting out as an ‘influencer’ and could be trying to gain views.
“Influencer with 1k followers? Ok, is it even verified that she broke her back or are we all getting Rick rolled on to this page for what???” still another person said.
It’s interesting to note that two days after her alleged fracture, she posted a short video of herself standing in a crop top and leggings, holding a purse. She’s gently swinging it around to show off the many baby charms attached to it.
She did not appear to be wearing any brace or bandages.
Experts recommend pain meds, decreased activity and a back brace for similar fractures
According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, the most common treatments for a thoracic compression fracture are “pain medications, decreased activity, and bracing.”
The site says fractures of this sort generally happen when too much pressure is put on the vertebral body.
“For example, falling from a chair can cause your head to go forward at the same time your buttocks hit the floor. This causes the spine to bend forward concentrating the pressure on the front part of the spine – the vertebral bodies,” the website continued.
The Cleveland Clinic, meanwhile, says: “Compression fractures are small breaks or cracks in the vertebral body, which is the thick, rounded part on the front of each vertebra.”
The Clinic says that “Compression fractures can happen to any part of your spine, but they usually occur in the thoracic spine (middle section).”
Netizens have mixed reactions to the woman’s “high heel” challenge fail
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