The 35-year-old former Tottenham, Luton and Crystal Palace forward currently plays for PT Prachuap in Thai League 1.
This week, as he was warming up, he was mown down by a pitch roller in a freak accident that went viral online for how bizarre and dangerous it was.
Fortunately, he was unharmed and made light of the situation on Instagram afterwards, stating: "It turns out Stoke away wasn't so bad after all. Swipe to see why."
Now, speaking on the crazy incident, Townsend admits that he was very lucky to escape without any serious injuries, as it could have been career-ending in another life.
"Every time I see it, I'm cringing, I'm in disbelief. It's horrible to watch back and to see what could have been.
"Thankfully, I was fortunate I did manage to fall on to the floor at the right time, so nothing snapped as the roller went over me.
"I remember thinking to myself 'I've never seen that before in my career, what are they doing?' But we got called to warm-up. Didn't think anything (more) of it," he said.
"The next I saw him was when I was literally underneath him and thankfully no serious damage. A couple of bumps and bruises but managed to walk away unscathed, luckily.
"I thought either my left ankle was going to snap or my left knee is going to snap. I thought I was done. I was very fortunate that I was able to hobble away and recover within a few minutes."
Townsend's side PT Prachuap went on to win the game against Pattani 3-0 with Townsend himself featuring off the bench late on much to the surprise of his teammates and supporters.