Beth Tweddle: Olympian gymnast discusses her injury

It’s been almost five years since Beth Tweddle was airlifted to hospital after training on the Austrian alps for the Channel 4 TV series. Since then, her recovery has been “ongoing”. The London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist was an artistic gymnast who retired the following year. Having won at the European Championships, World Championships, and Olympic Games, Beth wanted to explore different avenues.

Moving onto pastures new, the South African born Olympian strutted her stuff in the TV show Dancing On Ice.

But after landing a spot on The Jump, it wasn’t long before Beth was undergoing surgery on her neck and spinal cord.

Two weeks into the show, Beth sustained a vertebral fracture after she crashed into a barrier in the Austrian ski slopes.

Speaking of the ordeal, she told Sky News: “It’s been a long journey and my recovery is still ongoing. I’m not sure I’ll ever be 100 percent again.”

The 35-year-old went on to say that the effects of the accident “still interrupt [her] daily life”.

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“The hardest part of the recovery process has been the psychological element,” she said.

At the time of the injury, Beth’s parents released a statement revealing more details of the accident.

“[Surgeons] took a piece of bone from [Beth’s] hip and used it to fuse the two vertebrae that were fractured, along with pinning them together,” they announced.

Spine-health detailed autograft as the process when a bone graft is taken from the patient’s body to help achieve a spinal fusion.

Undesirable side effects can include chronic pain, scarring, bleeding, and infection.

In spinal fusion surgery, the most common site for obtaining autograft one is from the “iliac crest”.

The iliac crest is part of the “boney prominence around the belt-line of the hip” that can be harvested from the pelvis.

A spine fracture

The NHS explained the spine runs from the base of the skull to the pelvis.

A vertebral fracture is a break to one of the bones in the spine, which will need time to heal.

The painful condition can’t easily be supported by splints, so a conservative measure – enabling the spine to heal naturally – is usually the first call of treatment.

Some fractures may be helped with a supportive brace, but these can also cause additional problems.

Once such problem is the emergence of pressure ulcers on the skin.

Nowadays, Beth is a mum to her baby girl Freya who she shares with her husband Andy Allen.

Their daughter was born on May, 16 2019, and no doubt the pair will be busy tending to their eight-month baby during lockdown.

However, Beth hasn’t put her time in the limelight behind her, as she’ll be appearing on another TV show.

Beth Tweddle will be on BBC One’s A Question of Sport at 8.10pm for Friday, January 22.

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