Woman says she was paralyzed after doing a sit-up at the gym
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This fitness fanatic was told she may never walk, but after surgery and physical therapy, the 23-year old is back at the gym with full mobility.
A fitness fanatic was temporarily paralyzed from the neck down after a gym accident.
Marcelle Mancuso, a 23-year-old from Brazil, was doing an inverted sit-up at her gym in Rio when the strap holding her legs onto the elevated bench came loose and she slipped and fell head-first onto the floor.
The strip that attached the 23-year old bodybuilder to the piece of gym equipment broke and caused the accident. (© SWNS.com)
An inverted sit-up involves performing an abdominal crunch on a gym bench which is raised on one end.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I lost all the movements from the neck down when I hit my head on the floor," she told SWNS. "I could move my eyes. I had to keep calm and began to pray," she recalled.
After months of intense physical therapy, Marchelle Mancuso was able to take her first steps. (© SWNS.com)
The law graduate broke the fifth vertebrae in her neck, knocked another one out of place and squashed a third, compressing her spinal cord. Doctors had to graft bone to her smashed vertebrae and fit a metal plate and screws in her spine.
Her physicians warned she may be a quadriplegic.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A fitness fanatic was left paralysed from the neck down after she fell on her head while doing an upside down sit up in the gym. Marcelle Mancuso, 23, smashed a vertebrae in her neck when she tumbled off equipment head-first and doctors feared she might never move her limbs again. Surgeons fitted a titanium plate held by six screws into her spine and she endured months of physical therapy to regain her movement a toe or finger at a time. Now the law graduate is fighting fit and back at the gym with a new appreciation for being able to do simple tasks on her own. (An x-ray shows how doctors put in a plate and screws to help repair the 5th vertebrae.)
"The doctors did not know if I would walk again or if I would stay on a bed forever,” Marcelle recounted to SWNS. "I was afraid, but my faith always spoke louder and I thanked God for being alive.”
It took three months after surgery for Marcelle to take her first steps on her own. "After six months I managed to walk and my legs did not sway any more," she said.
She's now back at the gym and said she's more active than ever.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It sometimes feels like it was a nightmare I have woken up from," she said.