A BRITISH woman has been left paralysed in a freak accident after performing a routine move during a pole dancing fitness session. Debbie Plowman, 32, from York, northern England, was performing a routine manoeuvre known as cross ankle release when she fell, breaking her neck and severely damaging her spinal cord.

The mother-of-two remains in pain and unable to move since the accident nine months ago. She requires a ventilator to help her breathe and can only communicate through a computer that tracks her eye movements.

The cross ankle release requires the dancer to hang upside down, with ankles crossed and back arched.

Mrs Plowman, who had attended pole dancing classes for two years, was upside down just a foot above the ground when she fell on her head and was knocked unconscious.

Her husband, Chris said: “Fortunately, one of her friends was a nurse and knew what to do, otherwise I think she would have died.”Mrs Plowman, who is expected to leave the hospital in six months, still has feeling from her head to her feet, and a series of brain scans revealed no evidence of brain damage - but it could take up to three years for doctors to know whether she can regain body movement. Friends and family have launched a fundraising campaign to pay for specialised equipment when she returns home.