Thea Maxfield, 26, suffered an horrific “hangman’s fracture” when she was bucked 20ft into the air and landed on her head.

As she struggled to get up, Thea had to support her head in her hands to avoid damaging her spinal cord after her vertebrae ­shattered.

She explained: “I had to literally pick my head up and carry it in my hands. I didn’t have much hope of a recovery.”

At first doctors warned she might have to spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair. But amazingly Thea – after initial treatment to repair her vertebrae – was back riding again within seven months thanks to technology from the world of Grand Prix racing.

Thea became one of the first ever patients to be fitted with a special head brace connected to a computer.

Tiny sensors, which normally measure the force and stresses of an F1 car at high speed, were used to assess the strength and weakness of Thea’s neck.

This information allowed pioneering physiotherapist Don Gatherer to tailor an exercise routine to ensure her neck healed at the perfect rate.

The £6,000 TGP Analysis device normally monitors steering wheel, suspension and air-flow factors.

But Don, of Aylesbury, Bucks, developed it to treat top sportsmen. He said: “The data enables us to create a safe training programme whilst ensuring forces exerting on the muscle during training are within guidelines.” Thea, who runs a stud farm in Bicester, Oxfordshire, suffered her life-threatening injury while riding her dressage horse Thiorella last October.

To aid her recover she drank a herbal remedy normally given to horses to increase the elasticity of the bones and prevent them becoming brittle after a fracture.

But Thea is particularly grateful to her high-tech treatment. She said: “My recovery has been speeded up beyond belief. I feel incredibly lucky.” She even plans to be back competing next year.

http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/207779/Horror-fall-rider-saved-by-motor-racing-whizzkids/