Sports Medicine
Attention runners: Achilles can handle ‘ups and downs’ better than you think
Like many runners, former BYU track star Katy Andrews Neves has had her share of injuries. Unlike most runners, one of those injuries has been witnessed by millions of people around the world.
In what is now one of the top sports bloopers of all time, Neves was caught on camera in 2012 crashing over the water barrier in a steeplechase race at BYU. She hit her head and got several other bruises, but was luckily spared any serious injuries.
Once Neves finished her collegiate track career, she started researching running injuries as a graduate student. Her research has focused on the Achilles tendon, a common injury site for distance runners -an estimated 52 percent of which injure their Achilles at some point.