The challenge first emerged in schools in South America and spread around the world like wildfire thanks to popular short video app Tiktok.
Considered a prank, the Skullbreaker challenge involves three people lining up side-by-side and convincing the person in the middle to jump. Once the person jumps, the two other individuals kick them in the heels at the same time causing them to dramatically fall down.
Several parents, including in America, Canada, Venezuela and Spain, have since reported their children sustaining serious injuries after participating in the challenge even as medical experts warn that the consequences could be dire.
A quick look at the Google Play Store indicates that Tiktok is one of the most popular messaging and social media applications in Kenya, only falling behind Whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat.
Kenyan Tiktokers are, therefore, not left out as the craze sweeps across the world.
According to medical experts cited by the International Business Times, the fall from the challenge can potentially fracture several bones in the human body including causing a ligament tear.
It was further noted that injuries from the challenge can lead to paralysis or even death.
Police in the city of Granada, Spain issued a statement on Thursday, February 6, warning of the craze that has proved popular among school-going children.
“This game is doing the rounds in some schools. We would like to warn our followers so they share this message with the aim of avoiding such dangerous practices, that can cause serious injuries to children,” the department noted in a tweet.
People who have fallen victim to the challenge end up on the floor with the back of their heads fiercely hitting the ground. In many of the videos, they can be seen disoriented and struggling to move after unexpectedly landing on the floor.
In the United States, a South Florida parent is demanding action after her daughter was hospitalised after taking part in the challenge.
The woman claimed that her daughter, a high school freshman, was bullied into participating in the challenge by students at South Dade Senior High School.
“I jumped really high, and I remember them kicking me off my feet. I was like, ‘What just happened?
“I don’t even know if it’s describable, how much it hurts. Not only physically, but mentally” she told NBC Miami on Tuesday, February 11.
The freshman’s mother vowed to initiate legal proceedings against the Miami-Dade County Public Schools District for “allowing the (challenge), which (is) trending on social media, to take place within our schools.”
Social media challenges such as the Blue Whale challenge and the Tide Pod challenge have been blamed for various deaths in recent years.
The Blue Whale Challenge, for instance, involved users, many of them teens, being assigned a series of tasks which they would record themselves completing.
The challenges would at first appear innocuous, with participants assigned tasks such as ‘wake up in the middle of the night’ but they would quickly grow sinister with some users challenged, for example, to stand on ledges of tall buildings.
Watch a video of some of the most shared ‘Skullbreaker’ challenge videos below:
