A dad’s kneecaps shot up into his thighs after he snapped both tendons and collapsed while competing in a Strongman final, leaving him feeling like he was “on fire”.
Dan Jones had been competing in the Strongman competition in Southport on September 1 and managed to reach the final, which involved carrying 80kg 20 metres to the finish line.
Horrific footage shows Mr Jones sprinting, just seconds from the finish line, before collapsing in a heap as he ruptured both patellar tendons, causing his kneecaps to shoot up towards his quadriceps.
The 29-year-old senior IT analyst was rushed to Leighton Hospital in Crewe, Cheshire, where he was given painkillers before undergoing a gruelling five-hour operation to re-fuse his tendons.
The father of a boy who has been hospitalised for three weeks and has to learn to walk again hopes to be discharged before his 30th birthday next month.
Mr Jones’ kneecaps shot up into his thighs after he ruptured both tendons.
The horrific images show Mr Jones running, just seconds before the finish line.
The father of one of them had been training to compete in the competition since January of this year.
Mr Jones pictured with his wife Nicola Jones and their 11-month-old daughter.
The patellar tendon attaches the thigh muscle to the shin bone and helps straighten the knee for movements such as walking and going up and down stairs.
While it is not certain whether the 5ft 11in Mr Jones will be able to compete again, he says his injuries have not stopped him from taking part in future Strongman competitions if he is able to do so.
Mr Jones, from Weaverham in Northwich, Cheshire, said: ‘I was coming into the last event in second place.
‘If I had won this event I had the chance to win in my category and if I had finished second, I would have finished second overall out of 16 people.
‘The guy I was competing against was in first place at the time, so I had to beat him, that’s why I was going as fast as I could.
It was a freak accident, we’re still not 100 percent sure how it happened.
‘After slowing down the video with doctors and surgeons, it appears as if the patellar tendon in my right knee snapped out of nowhere, causing my leg to buckle underneath me.
‘Then my left knee buckles underneath me and this tendon snaps as I hit the ground.
The strong man went to the hospital and underwent a five-hour operation.
Since his accident, the 29-year-old has started physical therapy and is learning to walk again.
The final involved Mr Jones carrying 80kg 20 metres to the finish line.
‘I felt like I was on fire, my kneecaps were in my quads because my tendons were torn.
“The strangest thing I remember was the silence. The whole crowd was cheering everyone on and suddenly it was deathly silent and I was just lying on the ground.
‘I was very sad, I had the chance to win. We were very close to the end, ten metres from the end of the competition.
‘I only had three more seconds left to finish the race.
“On the video you can see I was slightly ahead of him when I fell, so I knew if I had finished the race I had a chance of winning.”
Mr Jones began training to compete in Strongman in January this year and came first in the First Time category at the Manchester Strongman competition in July.
To train, he worked out eight hours a week and ate a 4,500-calorie high-protein, high-carbohydrate diet that allowed him to weigh 300 pounds when he competed.
During his operation, he was fitted with an internal brace on both legs to help his tendons recover and he attends physiotherapy sessions every day.
She is now documenting her recovery process on TikTok and posts a daily video update from the hospital every day.
Mr Jones came first in the strongman category for the first time at the Manchester competition in July.
He said: “The only thing that keeps me going are these little goals.”
Mr Jones said: ‘During surgery the doctors said they needed to re-fuse my tendons and make sure the ligaments under my knee were where they needed to be.
‘They then had to put two sutures in my shin and build an internal brace to help my body fuse the tendon as best as possible.
‘I was in bed and I couldn’t move my legs, I was worried about everything. I was thinking: “Will I be able to walk again? How long will it take?”
‘The best guess is that potentially the stress of the day (caused the injury) as there’s no real reason as to why it happened because there were no signs, it was just a freak accident.
“The doctor said it was very rare to see two patellar tendons dislocated at the same time.”
Once Mr Jones can stand on his own and use the toilet unaided, he will be discharged from hospital, but he has been told he will not be able to walk unaided until at least February next year.
Mr Jones hopes to represent England in the Open Strongman competition in five years’ time, but following his injuries his surgeons have told him this may not be possible.
Despite this, he still hopes to recover from his accident and get back into the gym and compete again in the future if he can.
Mr Jones says he won’t give up on his dream despite the terrible accident
Mr Jones said: ‘The surgeon has said it could be the end of all Strongman competitions, but it is a case-by-case analysis.
He said it would be very rare for me to be able to compete at the level I was at again, but we won’t know until I start to recover.
‘My biggest goal is to be a father and be able to chase my daughter around and play with her.
‘I should be able to go to the gym and do aspects of strongman stuff.
‘There is a chance that I can still do my Strongman, but maybe not at the same level as before. I’m not going to give up on it (the dream).’
‘It’s been horrible, but I have little goals to accomplish, like getting up and moving, and now my next goal is to try to stand up without help.
“The only thing that keeps me going are these small goals.”
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