woman "heads off" for a horse ride (hehe)

[2002xr6]

"A British woman had to pick her own head up off the ground after badly breaking her neck in a horrific fall from a horse, according to reports.

The Daily Express newspaper reports that 26-year-old Thea Maxfield suffered a horrific "hangman's fracture" - a clean break of her upper cervical vertebra - after she was bucked six metres into the air in the accident.

After she fell off the horse Ms Maxfield tried to get out of the animal's way, but found that when she moved her head stayed where it was.

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She was forced to cup her hands around her head and lift it back into place to avoid damaging her spinal cord after her vertebrae shattered.

"I had to literally pick my head up and carry it in my hands. I didn't have much hope of a recovery," she told the newspaper.

Doctors initially warned she would be paralysed and have to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair.

But seven months after the fall she is back in the saddle, thanks to revolutionary technology developed for Formula 1 racing.

Ms Maxfield was fitted with a special head brace connected to a computer, which used sensors to assess the strength and weakness of her neck.

The same technology is used to monitor elite racing cars to assess steering, suspension and air-flow factors affecting performance."

ooouuuuucccchhhhhh!!!!!

[fmc351]

While stranger things have happend, Im not even sure thats possible. All I can see now is one of those bobblehead toys

[seedywagon]

Originally Posted by fmc351

While stranger things have happend, Im not even sure thats possible. All I can see now is one of those bobblehead toys

Hahaha BOBBLE BOBBLE BOBBLE

[3vXT]

If that is true she is pretty lucky.

[ebxr8240]

Fatty Vauton head wobble...

[TUF_302]

Thats messed up!!

[buggo]

That can't be true can it? If your neck broke that bad wouldn't that be it? If it is true though, picking up your head would be pretty freaky. But...

[martinijosh]

assuming you manage to break your spine without severing the spinal cord, how would you be able to get up and run while holding your own head while handling the excruciating pain.

I call bullsh!t

What a stupid story.

[GS608]

if doctors said she was going to be paralysed from the neck down then her arms wouldn't have been working to pick up her head? what a stupid story

[Brendo_GSUte]

the second she moved (provided she actually did get flung 6M in the air and only break her neck) her spinal chord would of broke not to mention been cut by broken bones in her neck as the actual chord sits in a kind of conduit in the spine. The spinal chord is like toothpaste in texture, its not elastic nor stretchable.

If this story is true ill eat my own head.

[Rich@NDRS]

something is not quite right about this story, dosent sound possible to me.

[GK]

Whilst I too have doubts about the story, it's possible I guess, not likely, but still possible.

I know a lady who was conceived and born to a mother, who had no womb, so I guess this is possible then!

Fact is indeed very often stranger than fiction!

GK

[Yaw]

Send the story into mythbusters.....Adam and Jamie will figure out some way to blow things up.

[csv8]

UK NEWS

HORROR FALL RIDER SAVED BY MOTOR RACING WHIZZKIDS


Thea Maxfield with her horse

Tuesday October 26,2010
By Daily Express Reporter
A WOMAN who broke her neck after being thrown from her horse is back in the saddle because of pioneering technology used in Formula One motor racing.
Thea Maxfield, 26, suffered an horrific “hangman’s fracture” when she was bucked 20ft into the air and landed on her head.
As she struggled to get up, Thea had to support her head in her hands to avoid damaging her spinal cord after her vertebrae shattered.
She explained: “I had to literally pick my head up and carry it in my hands. I didn’t have much hope of a recovery.”
* WIN A LUXURY LONG WEEKEND FOR TWO IN CAIRO!!! INCLUDES BA CLUB CLASS FLIGHTS, FIVE STAR ACCOMMODATION AND £1,000 SPENDING MONEY! *
At first doctors warned she might have to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. But amazingly Thea – after initial treatment to repair her vertebrae – was back riding again within seven months thanks to technology from the world of Grand Prix racing.
Thea became one of the first ever patients to be fitted with a special head brace connected to a computer.
Tiny sensors, which normally measure the force and stresses of an F1 car at high speed, were used to assess the strength and weakness of Thea’s neck.
This information allowed pioneering physiotherapist Don Gatherer to tailor an exercise routine to ensure her neck healed at the perfect rate.
The £6,000 TGP Analysis device normally monitors steering wheel, suspension and air-flow factors.
But Don, of Aylesbury, Bucks, developed it to treat top sportsmen. He said: “The data enables us to create a safe training programme whilst ensuring forces exerting on the muscle during training are within guidelines.” Thea, who runs a stud farm in Bicester, Oxfordshire, suffered her life-threatening injury while riding her dressage horse Thiorella last October.

[gcg2503]

What a lovely filly

[csv8]

Originally Posted by gcg2503

What a lovely filly

Which one !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gcg2503]

Originally Posted by csv8

Which one !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The shorter "headless" one

[sdoylie]

[Kieron]

Its happend before -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQslnmcHOeM

Skip to about 1:10 if you want to get straight to it

[Scott]

Ah yeah, I remember when this happened. The link below is to a pic taken on the day of her accident - not pasted as a pic as it is a little disturbing.
http://www.nerdbanite.com/wp-content...d-fall-off.jpg

[3vXT]

I would carry her head around all day.