Horrifying moment dad’s kneecaps ‘shoot up into his thighs’ during Strongman final

Horrific vision has emerged of the moment a dad’s kneecaps ‘shot into his thighs’ during a frantic Strongman final incident.

WARNING: This article contains graphic images and video

A horrifying video shows the moment a dad’s kneecaps shot up into his thighs, after he snapped both tendons while competing in a Strongman final.

Englishman Dan Jones had been competing at a Strongman competition in Southport, UK on September 1 and made it through to the final, which involved carrying 80kg weights 20 metres to the finish line.

Spine-chilling footage shows Dan racing along, just seconds from the finish line, before collapsing in a heap.

This is the moment he ruptured both patellar tendons, sending his kneecaps shooting up into his quads.

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 op to have his tendons fused back together.

The dad-of-one, who’s been in hospital for three weeks and has to learn how to walk again, hopes to be discharged from hospital before his 30th birthday next month.

The patellar tendon joins the thigh muscle to the shin bone, helping straighten the knee for movements such as walking and going up and down stairs.

Dan Jones, 30, was competing in a local Strongman final. Credit: Kennedy Newsand Media

Dan Jones claims both his kneecaps shot into his thighs after both his tendons snapped. Credit: Kennedy Newsand Media

While it’s uncertain if 5ft 11in Dan will be able to compete again, he says his injuries have not put him off taking part in future Strongman competitions if he’s able to.

“I was going into the last event in second place,” Jones said.

“If I had won this event there was a chance I could have won my category and if I had come second I would have come second overall out of 16 people.

“The guy that I was racing against was in first place at the time so I was having to beat him, which is why I was going as fast as I could.

“It was a freak accident, we’re still not 100 per cent sure how it happened.

“After slowing down the video with doctors and surgeons, it looks like my right knee patellar tendon snaps out of nowhere, which causes my leg to fold underneath me.

“Then my left knee bends underneath me and this tendon snaps on impact with the ground.

“I felt like I was on fire, my kneecaps were in my quads because my tendons ruptured.

“The weirdest thing I remember is silence. The whole crowd was cheering everyone on and then it went deathly silent and I just lay on the floor.

“I was very upset, I had a chance of winning. We were very near to the end with 10 metres to go in the competitions.

“I only needed three more seconds of running to finish the event.

“In the video it showed that I was slightly in front of him when I went down so I knew if I had finished the event there was a chance I could have won.”

Dan Jones faces a long recovery. Credit: Kennedy Newsand Media

Dan started training to compete in Strongman in January this year and came first in the First Time category at the Manchester Strongman competition in July.

For training, he worked out eight hours a week and ate a 4,500-calorie high-protein and high-carb diet that meant he was tipping the scales at 21st 4lbs when he competed.

NOT GIVING UP

During his operation, Dan had an internal brace fitted to both legs to help aid the recovery of his tendons and is attending physio sessions every day.

He’s now documenting his recovery journey on TikTok, posting a daily video update from hospital each day.

“During surgery the doctors said they needed to fuse my tendons back together and make sure my ligaments underneath my knee were where they should be,” Jones said.

“They then needed to put two sutures into my shin and build an internal brace to help my body fuse the tendon back together as best it can.

“I was in bed and not able to 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 potentially the stress of the day [caused the injury] as there is no real reason 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 go at the same time.”

Once Dan is able to stand on his own and use the toilet unassisted he will be discharged from hospital.

But he’s been told he won’t be able to walk without assistance until at least February next year.

Dan has hopes of representing England in the Open Strongman competition in five years’ time, but following his injuries surgeons have said this may not be possible.

Despite this, Dan is still hopeful to recover from his accident and get back to the gym and return to competing in future if he can.

“The surgeon has said it could be the end of all the Strongman competitions but it’s a case-by-case basis,” Jones said.

“He said it would be very rare that I’d be able to compete at the level I was again, but we don’t know until I start healing.

“My biggest goal is to be a dad and be able to chase my daughter around and play with her.

“It has been horrendous but I’ve got little goals to meet such as standing up and moving around and now my next goal is to try and stand unassisted.

“The only thing that is keeping me going is these little goals,” the dad said.

- This article first appeared in The Sun and was republished with permission

Originally published as Horrifying moment dad’s kneecaps ‘shoot up into his thighs’ during Strongman final