Personal trainer suffers horror backflip accident - as she fails to stop before hitting wall
Personal trainer suffers horror backflip accident - as she fails to stop before hitting wall
Rosie Gorman was doing multiple backflips in a row - known as a standing backflip spring series - as a warm-up during cheerleading training in August 2023
A personal trainer was 'terrified' she'd never be able to walk again after a horror backflip accident left her with 'life-changing' injuries. Rosie Gorman was doing multiple backflips in a row - known as a standing backflip spring series - as a warm-up during cheerleading training in August 2023.
Despite the move being 'second nature' to her, the 22-year-old's shins 'smashed' against the three-foot-tall backboard while completing her fourth and final backflip.
In hospital she was told the wounds were consistent with 'crash' injuries and had triggered compartment syndrome, which can lead to amputation in extreme cases. Rosie was warned her legs 'wouldn't function the same' again, so she was forced to end her 10-year cheerleading career.
Shocking footage shared to TikTok captioned 'I lost a big part of myself' shows the moment she crashed into the wooden board and it has since gone viral with more than 319,400 views. In the clip you can see Rosie successfully complete three backflips before the front of her shins smash into the wooden backboard while completing the final one.
Rosie Gorman wearing her cheerleading outfit
(Image: Kennedy News and Media )
Defying the odds, through intense physiotherapy Rosie was back to backflipping just five months later and she recently completed the 2025 Manchester Marathon. Now she encourages other athletes who have suffered life-changing injuries to 'persevere'.
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Rosie, who lives in Manchester, said: "It breaks my heart [watching the footage back]. I feared I would ever walk again and I was so terrified. Everything was taken away. It was just a normal day and I went to a different training centre to get some extra training in. It was my warm up session.
"It was on the fourth [backflip] that my shins hit the backboard. I just hit the wall with such force. It's something I'm so confident in and it's like second nature to me. It's such a shame that something so simple to me ended that cheerleading career."
After being rushed to hospital doctors revealed Rosie had compartment syndrome from the knee down in both of her lower legs. She was sent home after a few days, where she was bed-bound for a few weeks before beginning intense physiotherapy and using crutches.
Rosie said: "It's been a long road to recovery. I have been left with quite severe muscle and nerve damage. A lot of the feelings I've actually never grown back and it's very sensitive. Compartment syndrome can be quite serious as some people have to have their limbs completely amputated. I was lucky I didn't have that or have both shins completely break in half.
Rosie Gorman after completing a running race
(Image: Kennedy News and Media )
"Because I've been strength training and have a strong build, that is what saved me. The training I'd done is what saved my leg. The doctors said they'd never seen a case like this and said the fact I'd come in and was able to get up and move fairly quickly just really emphasised how lucky I was because it could've been so much worse, but it wasn't."
Rosie admitted she had to end her 10-year cheerleading career and doctors warned her that her legs would never function the same again. Defying the odds she completed the same movement that caused her injury after just five months and even took on the Manchester Marathon in April 2025.
Rosie said: "When I was in the hospital they said I should never return to cheerleading and that my legs won't function the same they did before. To be told all these facts and these odds before I'd even try and do it I was like 'hang on a minute, I'm going to go and prove you wrong'.
"It took me five months to get the same skill back as when I was injured. Everything's telling you not to do it and that it's a bad idea but I've done it so many times before and you've got to believe in yourself you can do it. I would rather push through that pain than never be able to do it again. It was a full-circle moment.
"I was bursting with happy tears and I was over the moon [after running the marathon]. I just ran a whole marathon after being told I should not be able to run. I think knowing what it did to my family and how much it was upsetting for them seeing me in that way is what drove me to get better and work hard."
The personal trainer, who qualified five years ago, now wants to encourage other athletes who have suffered life-changing injuries to 'persevere'.
Rosie said: "To athletes who have grown up in a certain sport and wanted to do it for the rest of their life and for whatever reason if that's been cut short or they've sustained an injury at the time it feels like the worst thing in the world. You've got to really persevere and find something else out there that's for you and that you will love.
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"It's believing that you can overcome it. Your body's capable of that sport previously, imagine what it's capable of once you've persevered through that recovery."
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