A former Green Beret paratrooper says a dumbbell worker at a Manhattan Equinox gym hurt his back, worsening an injury he received in the Army, according to court papers.
David J. Walker, of Brooklyn Heights, is now suing the upscale gym for allegedly refusing to refund all of the personal-training sessions he paid for.
Walker, 51, who runs a Manhattan hedge fund, was a member of Equinox’s 421 Hudson St. branch in the West Village, according to his Manhattan Supreme Court suit.
Last month, he purchased a 24-session package with Equinox trainer Carlos Torres for $2,544, the suit says.
Walker repeatedly told Torres that he had a significant injury to his lower back and that he was worried about re-hurting himself, his suit says.
Walker served as an officer in a paratrooper division through 1999 in locales such as Kuwait and Kazakhstan and was injured jumping out of an airplane. He is currently on the board of the Green Beret Foundation, which provides support to wounded veterans.
He said Torres instructed him to use a foam roller on his lower back, then rotate his legs in a semi-circle motion.
“I kept telling him throughout the workout that I think this is a little bit dangerous on my back,” Walker told The Post.
During the second workout, Walker informed Torres that the exercises were very uncomfortable.
“He kept telling me, ‘It’s OK, this is just the body reacting. the body is getting adjusting to it,’ ” Walker recalled. “I sucked it up as best as I could.’’
The next morning, Walker said, he was in so much pain that he worked from home.
“I was on my back for the whole weekend,” icing and taking Ibuprofen, Walker said.
He said he researched foam rollers and read warnings not to use them on your lower back.
Walker’s suit says Equinox has refused to refund the full 24 sessions.
But the gym says it’s fine with refunding the $2,544 — as long as Walker coughs up a doctor’s note.
“We were not aware of Mr. Walker’s suit but had previously offered him a full refund for his training sessions and are happy to honor that promise,” a rep said.
Walker told The Post he has a note from his Veteran’s Administration doctor explaining that he can’t work out for six months.
But his lawyer, Lowell Sidney, called it “insulting to ask a disabled veteran for proof that he was injured by a trainer at their gym.
“As a former soldier he knows about following orders,” Sidney said. “But the people at Equinox are following bad orders from the top down.”