A mother has claimed getting fit for a holiday left her with a brain injury – after she fell off Aldi‘s viral ‘Specialbuy’ Pilates reformer machine.
Annabelle Rose, from Durham, was enjoying an early morning workout on 14 July, completing a move she’d performed countless times when she suddenly plunged forwards.
Shocking footage shows the 32-year-old falling and smashing her forehead on the steel frame of the reformer before leaping up and clutching her bleeding head.
The mother-of-one said she bought the £150 reformer from Aldi a few months ago and has been taking reformer Pilates lessons for a year now.
After her fall, Annabelle, who works as a learning experience designer, logged onto work as normal but after six hours her head was still bleeding so she called 111 who told her to go to urgent care.
When she arrived at hospital she claims doctors told her she had concussion and had likely damaged her pre-frontal cortex – the part of the brain responsible for cognitive functions and personality.
Annabelle had been filming her workout on her phone so she could check her form so ended up catching the accident as it occurred.
She admits the incident occurred because she forgot to change the tension on the machine amd shared the clip on TikTok to raise awareness of what can happen on a Pilates reformer.
Annabelle said: ‘The move was [called] the offering. I have done this move quite a few times before.
‘It was the last exercise of my 30-minute workout that I’d been bashing out.
Annabelle Rose, from Durham was enjoying an early morning workout on 14 July, completing a move she’d performed countless times when she suddenly plunged forwards, cutting her head
Annabelle had been filming her workout on her phone so she could check her form so ended up catching the accident as it occurred
‘I hadn’t changed the tension setting so when I went to move my arms obviously they just flew up.
‘The natural instinct when you’re falling is to stretch out your arms to catch yourself.
‘But obviously my arms were in the strap so by reaching out to save myself I’ve actually done myself dirty because the carriage has flown backwards even quicker.
‘That then jolted me forwards so I hit my head straight off the steel frame.
‘It was probably the four-week countdown to us going on holiday. So I’d given my head a wobble at the weekend and it was six o’clock Monday morning, “I’ll get this workout in.”
‘My initial reaction was I had to get up because I didn’t know how bad it was but I needed to get to a phone as quickly as possible.
‘I’ve got a mirror next to my Pilates reformer so I looked in the mirror and all I could see was blood and it was dripping everywhere.
‘It was thick bright red blood as well. Not just like a trickle. It was a bit of a murder scene.’
The mother-of-one had been trying to squeeze an early morning workout in to get ready for her family holiday to Kos, Greece but the accident left her with a ‘Harry Potter scar’
Annabelle has been doing mat Pilates for years and has been having one-on-one reformer Pilates training for a year.
She bought the reformer a few months ago to practice what she had been learning in classes at home.
A week after the accident Annabelle said she was feeling nauseous and dizzy and after a call to 111 she went to hospital.
Here, she says doctors told her she had damaged her pre-frontal cortex and had severe concussion and needed to rest until she felt better.
Annabelle is now resting on her doctor’s orders and looking forward to going on her holiday to Kos, Greece, in about a week’s time.
She said she will build her confidence up with mat Pilates before returning to the reformer.
Annabelle said: ‘By the time I saw a doctor, he said basically that I’d damaged my pre-frontal cortex.
‘It seems over the top for Pilates it really does. He’s basically said the only way to recover is to stop thinking because your pre-frontal cortex is in charge of your thinking and your decision-making and things like that.
‘So the only way to allow that to recover is to effectively stop using it. It’s been a challenge to say the least.
‘I think being told that you’ve damaged your pre-frontal cortex made me take it more seriously.
‘It was really scary. I’ve got a full-on dint in my forehead. It’s a bit like a Harry Potter scar.
‘You think this all feels a little bit far-fetched for Pilates. I hadn’t been playing rugby or I hadn’t been in a boxing ring.
‘You don’t have it down as a contact sport really do you? It’s the reality of whenever you involve any sort of machine in exercise.
‘You could fall off a treadmill, you could have a barbell fall on you. Just because it’s a slower sport doesn’t take away that risk.
‘It’s not like I’d ever expected it to blow up, it was more I wanted to share so that people could see that it can go wrong and not to get complacent.’
TikTok users have viewed the video more than 822,000 times and left more than 560 comments.
One user said: ‘Omg I’m a Pilates fan but this is my nightmare, it looked painful. Hope you feel fine soon, take care.’
Another said: ‘New fear unlocked! Thank you for bringing awareness. Hope you are healing up! Ouch!!
A third wrote: ‘And just like that I’ve been de-influenced from an at-home reformer. I hope you’re okay and heal well!’
A fourth commented: ‘As an instructor, this is my worst fear. I’m glad you weren’t injured worse.’
Aldi have been contacted for comment.
