Overview
- The injury occurred when Max Dettmann jumped into a hotel pool at Playa de Palma and hit the bottom in water about 60 centimetres deep, according to teammates and media reports.
- After resurfacing bleeding but conscious, he was taken by ambulance to Clínica Rotger where CT scans showed fractures to the first (C1) and seventh (C7) cervical vertebrae.
- Surgeons performed an operation to stabilise the neck and he was moved out of intensive care to a normal ward as his condition remained without signs of paralysis.
- He now wears a Halofixateur, an external head-and-neck stabiliser doctors expect him to use for about three to four months, and a medical flight home via ADAC is being arranged with travel insurance covering transport.
- Dettmann and his club, MTV Ahrensbök, are sharing recovery updates on social media as he urges others not to dive into unknown shallow water and highlights the real risk of spinal injury from head-first dives.