Klaire Cave broke her foot after a TikTok video which challenged viewers to drop heavy items led her to wonder whether her fully packed suitcase would hurt – it broke her bone
An experimental mother-of-two has broken her foot after wondering whether it would hurt to have a full suitcase dropped on it… and then impulsively doing so.
A curious Klaire Cave shared how she wished to find out whether a a packed suitcase landing on her foot would hurt and, not being able to wait, found out just how much when she landed with a shattered foot – her fourth metatarsal bone broken.
Klaire, 40, and her cousin Gemma Stephens were attempting to measure the scale of pain caused by different objects dropped onto a foot. Whilst this may surprise many readers, this was actually inspired by a challenge seen on TikTok, and which found subjects in the cousins who were ‘holed up’ in a hotel room in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbriawhen.
Beginning with a spoon, and then a door stop, the duo then worked their way up to a fully loaded suitcase. Unsurprisingly tipsy, the experimenter had seen a version of the challenge that featured creators dropping an increasing list of heavy objects onto a foot from a waist-level height. The users would then review the level of pain each item caused, to the fascination of viewers.
The assigned camerawoman – Gemma, 29 – used her phone to film subject Klaire attempting the challenge by beginning with a spoon. This was rated a one out of 10 on her pain scale, with the second object (the door stop) being rated a two. Recruitment worker Klaire then moved on to larger – and thus heavier – items. Sacrificing the state of her foot in the name of science, she bravely dropped the hotel room’s standing fan as well as her fully packed suitcase.
With the fan receiving an eight out of ten and her luggage achieving full marks, the mother concluded the social media challenge by clutching her foot in her hands and hopping on the other around the room in pain – Gemma laughing out of view behind the camera. Though she stated she’d passed off the pain, it was only until she got up to walk on it the next morning did she realise she’d seriously injured her right foot.
Taken to the hospital on Monday, Klaire opened up about how embarrassed she was when she had to explain to the doctors that she had intentionally dropped the list of heavy things. After an X-ray, she was informed that her fourth fourth metatarsal bone was completely broken and she was also suffering ligament damage. This meant that curious Klaire now has to wear a medical boot for six whole weeks to make full recovery.
Learning a lesson, she admitted that it was a “daft” idea and has even pledged to just stick to dancing – the most common content on TikTok – in the future. “The pain was unbelievable,” said Klaire. “I obviously wasn’t expecting to break my foot.”
