An X-ray exhibits a gymnast performing an excessive backbend.
In early December 2024, an X-ray allegedly displaying a gymnast performing an excessive backbending maneuver resurfaced on
“I do know it is foolish, however I see a snake with a human cranium,” one Reddit person commented, whereas one other requested, “This is perhaps a foolish query, however how come when gymnasts do this stuff they’re okay .. however when a standard individual does this, they get a bundle of accidents if not even paralyzes [sic]?”
Google reverse picture search outcomes confirmed the picture had unfold a whole lot of instances on social media platforms, together with Threads, Imgur, Reddit, 9GAG, X, and Facebook. A TinEye reverse picture search indicated the picture had unfold on-line not less than since March 2016.
The picture was genuine. Nonetheless, as a result of it confirmed a contortionist, an acrobat in a position to twist the physique into uncommon postures, somewhat than a gymnast performing a maneuver, we have now rated this declare as miscaptioned.
What We Know About Pic
Some social media customers claimed the picture confirmed Italian contortionist Irene Betti. The truth is, once we investigated this claim in 2021, we contacted Betti, who confirmed that she was the contortionist depicted within the picture. Whereas she couldn’t recall particular particulars in regards to the image, she recognized Michel Ritz, a French physiotherapist specializing within the examine of contortionists, because the creator. Betti supplied the next assertion (translated through Google and edited for readability):
Ciao sì sono io. È un immagine di lavoro del medico Michel Ritz, è un fisioterapia Francese che ha approfondito gli studi sul contorsionisti.
Hello sure it is me. It’s a skilled picture of the physician Michel Ritz, he’s a French physiotherapy who has deepened his research on contortionists.
We additionally discovered that the picture was first shared on a web site for Contortion Amsterdam, a stretching studio primarily based within the Netherlands. Max Zegers, the proprietor, confirmed through e mail it was initially printed on his www.contortiontrainer.com, however the web site is now renamed to www.contortionamsterdam.nl.
“[The image] was taken in 2009 by a French physician in France whose identify I forgot. The woman on the scan is Irene Betti from Italy,” Zegers acknowledged.
Whereas the blue scan was not out there on the web site in the mean time of this writing, it featured a virtually equivalent picture captioned: “One in all my college students in a MRI scanner. Discover the angle of the neck.” The picture is displayed beneath:
(www.contortionamsterdam.nl)
Textual content within the bottom-right nook of the picture indicated that it was created utilizing OsiriX, a medical imaging viewer.
Beneath is a comparability between the blue-tinted picture shared on social media and the X-ray posted on the Contortion Amsterdam web site, that are equivalent besides for his or her coloring.
When requested in regards to the colour variations, Zegers responded: “There are a number of variations of this photograph. Each are the identical. Or possibly anyone downloaded the photograph and turned it into blue. I don’t know, it’s greater than 15 years in the past.”
Moreover, an animated version of the scan, additionally created utilizing OsiriX, was out there within the Contortion Amsterdam web site’s part titled, “The key of a versatile again,” with a caption studying: “One in all my college students, Irene within the 3D scanner – Contortion Amsterdam.”
(Contortion Amsterdam)
The accompanying textual content mentioned the anatomy of backbending poses and highlighted the significance of neck flexibility in creating the visible impact of an excessive backbend. It additionally knowledgeable it was captured through an MRI scanner (we translated it utilizing Google Translate, emphasis added):
A side that’s ignored by most individuals is the mobility of the neck. In the event you look intently at a contortionist you will notice that she will bend her head thus far again that the again of her head touches her again. The flexibleness of the neck is a crucial visible a part of the again bending, due to this the again appears to bend deeper than it really does. Simply take a look at the above video of certainly one of my college students from Italy, Irene, who was invited by a French researcher to sit within the MRI scanner to have her again scanned throughout a ‘head-sit’. You possibly can clearly see that the angle of the neck is deeper than that of the again. Irene doesn’t have a very hypermobile again however she was loopy about contortion and completely needed to sit down on her head. After a number of months of coaching she succeeded. Partly as a result of the truth that her neck has grow to be significantly extra versatile because of the coaching. So that you see, there may be at all times hope.
We requested Zegers whether or not the picture was certainly captured utilizing an MRI scanner or an X-ray or CT scan, as steered by quite a few social media customers. He responded: “In my view it’s a MRI scan, however I’m not a health care provider. […] It additionally will be each, an X-ray (the blue one) and a MRI scan (the shifting video).”
For context, some social media customers shared an authentic photograph of Betti hanging a pose much like the one within the viral picture:
We now have reached out to Betti for a remark and can replace this text if we obtain a response.
Snopes has investigated related photos prior to now, together with a rumor that an X-ray showed hundreds of bubble tea pearls inside a teenage girl’s stomach and a picture allegedly displaying an X-ray of a 900-pound man.
