Terrifying moment man's neck is crushed by squat machine at gym in Brazil

A man from Brazil has been told he has a one per cent chance of ever walking again after his neck was crushed by a squat machine.

Regilanio da Silva, 42, was involved in a freak accident at the 220 FIT gym in Brazil, when a piece of gym equipment that was holding 150kg plates fell on his neck.

CCTV cameras captured the terrifying moment as was crushed by the weight on August 4.

As you can see in the footage below, Da Silva can be seen taking a break in between one of his sets when, out of the blue, that incredibly heavy machine collapsed over his neck.

Three men were able to get the weight off whilst flagging down others to call emergency services.

Da Silva was soon rushed to Santo Antonio Hospital, where he needed to go through four hours of treatment just to stabilise his neck.

But it wasn’t enough to reverse an immense amount of damage to his body and, although he can use his arms, there is very little chance that he will ever walk again.

Dr Jose Correia, a neurosurgeon, told Brazilian news outlet G1 that there are factors to consider after such an accident.

"It depends a lot on the degree of injury at first, the level of return of previous functions," he said.

"There are neither motor nor sensitive components, unfortunately. It is the most serious injury there is from the point of view of neurological damage.

"The chance is, statistically, less than 1% of the return of motor and sensitive functions."

CCTV

Cícero Aparecido, a manager at the gym, explained that the machine features a centre lock and plates on the side so that visitors can do 'conventional squats on the machine rather than freestyle squats'.

The mystery of how the machine collapsed, however, has yet to be solved.

In an Instagram statement, the gym stated that: "A veteran student who was practicing his exercise on a loaded machine also sat down to rest on the platform which would be for foot support."

Da Silva's family and the 220 FIT gym in Brazil have since paid an equal amount for the cost of his surgery, which amounted to around £5,400.

Topics: Gym, Brazil

Jack Kenmare

Senior Journalist at SPORTbible with a passion for long-form journalism. Almost 10 years’ experience across online and print.

@jackkenmare_