Dr Karen Hind from Lancaster Medical School has co-authored a report condemning the alarming rise of “Run It Straight” - a social media challenge where two individuals sprint toward each other and collide at full force - and the for-profit competitions it has spawned, including the RUNIT Championship League.

She is a member of the Repercussion Group, an international coalition of experts from neuroscience, neurology, sports medicine, public health, and caregiving communities. Many of its members have firsthand experience supporting individuals living with traumatic brain injury or related conditions such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Their report entitled “Run It Straight: A Call to Action Against a Perfect Brain Injury Delivery System” warns that these events, glamorised and monetised across platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and TikTok, are exposing participants - often young men - to biomechanical forces equivalent to unbelted car crashes.

This creates a high risk of acute brain trauma, catastrophic neck and spine injury, and the longer-term development of neurodegenerative diseases.

Dr Karen Hind is an Honorary Professor at Lancaster University, where research is being conducted into concussion in contact sports.

She said: “Turning human collisions into viral spectacle is a failure of ethical leadership in both sport and tech. We are calling for immediate policy intervention to protect individuals, particularly young people, from exploitation and irreversible harm.”

Dr Stephen T. Casper, medical historian and lead author, said: “This is not sport - it is entertainment built on real human harm. These are engineered systems for brain injury, exploiting social media’s viral reach to normalise collisions that can permanently alter lives.”

The Repercussion Group report argues that these activities are not governed by ethical safeguards or informed consent. Instead, they are driven by social and economic incentives that prey on vulnerable individuals while insulating profit-makers from liability.

Among the paper’s key recommendations:

· Public warnings on the risks of concussive and subconcussive impacts

· National and international bans on monetised “Run It Straight”-style contests

· Removal or demonetization of such content on major social media platforms

· Education initiatives in schools about the dangers of high-impact collisions

· Policy reform to outlaw the organisation and promotion of these events

· Research funding to assess the long-term harm caused by these practices

The Repercussion Group emphasises that responsibility lies not only with the event organisers but with the platforms that host, promote, and profit from this content.