Sports and Fitness Injuries
Despite knowing the client was vulnerable to injury due to multiple factors including age, weight, height, current strength and conditioning level, and recent surgery, a group fitness instructor programmed a 20″ plyometric box step-up during a HIIT class without offering a safe modification or alternative movement, and allowed the fatigued client to perform the movement, unnecessarily leading to a spinal burst fracture.
The injury required emergency medical care, extended bracing, assistance with daily activities, and months of physical rehabilitation. The client faced significant functional limitations and ongoing pain throughout recovery.
Liability was developed through expert testimony establishing that the instructor breached the standard of care by failing to: (1) account for the client’s risk factors and allowing her to perform a high-risk movement under fatigue, (2) provide appropriate modifications or an alternative movement for a vulnerable participant, and (3) adequately supervise the client during a physically demanding movement while fatigued. The combination of unsafe programming and inadequate supervision created a foreseeable and preventable catastrophic injury.
The case successfully settled at mediation.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Outcomes depend on the facts and law of each case.
