Who says football is dangerous only to the people who have 320 lb. linemen that can do a 4.4 second 40-yard dash flying at them?    We can get hurt too, namely by choking on a chicken wing.   Or getting a tummy ache from too much Bratwurst.

Super Bowl game day is actually pretty dangerous.   People get up and cheer too quickly and pull a muscle, there are drunken driving accidents and people who drink too much and fail to get up and go to the bathroom can also develop a problem called urinary retention, a condition where the bladder gets so full that the muscles are not strong enough to generate a stream.

“I’ve seen a number of injuries, some fatal, occur on Super Bowl Sunday because people often pay more attention to the game than to their health and safety,” said Dr. Jeff Kalina, associate director of emergency medicine at The Methodist Hospital in Houston. “The ER is usually busy after the game and we expect it to be no different this Sunday.”

Kalina has seen all types of cases following the Super Bowl: from a man so drunk he broke his teeth trying to open a beer bottle, to people who threw out their backs by abruptly standing to cheer; to one guy so unhappy with his losing team that he threw his television out the window of his third floor apartment. Luckily no one was on the street below.

More seriously, Kalina says Super Bowl Sunday also brings with it a rise in domestic violence cases.    

“There is a lot of testosterone flying around during the Super Bowl. You mix that with alcohol and underlying relationship problems and you have a recipe for disaster,” Kalina said. “If a woman is in a relationship where this is happening, it might be best to stay away from the house or party on Sunday.”

Or it might be best to lose the idiot who beats you up, whether it be a Sunday or not.

If you're not going to partake in a Primanti's style sandwich (though you should) when the Pittsburgh Steelers win their sixth Super Bowl this Sunday, visit Eating Well for some healthy Super Bowl snack alternatives.