Anyone ever broken their back?

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Halvorson
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Anyone ever broken their back?

Post by Halvorson »

About two years ago I swapped on the landing of a jump we built out in the hills behind my friends house. I layed there for a second and thought I broke my back but my friends convinced me to get up and I rode out on the back of my friends bike to his house. I had my dad come pick me up and take me to the ER and they took X ray's and then told me I was fine. I was sore for a while and they recommended chiropractic care. So I was goin to the chiropractor for a while and it didn't really help so I quit goin and just kinda dealt with the pain as it kinda slowly went away but was still there a little bit at time. Then I started working manual labor and and just kinda dealt with the pain thinking I just had a weak back. I did that for about 10 months and my back just kept getting worse every day so I started going to the chiropractor again and they eventually took and X ray again when I told them it wasn't helping and they told me I had 2 pretty bad compressioin fractures to my t5 and t6 this whole time. I met with and Ortho specialist and they recommended physical therapy. So I've been doing that from November of 2016 - April of 2017 and my back has continued to get even worse. I met with an Ortho surgeon and he said My vertebrae were compressed to a little over half the size of normal, and were at a 30 degree angle, when they're supposed to be at a 5 degree angle. He said surgery is highly unrecommended since people still often half pain after. But they would have to cut open my chest and go in like that since it's inoperable on the back and cut my spine in half and then fuse it back together. He said he didn't feel comfortable doing the surgery on me at 20 years old but if I went to somewhere like California or Seattle they would probably operate on me. It just continues to get worse day by day and I am unable to do alot of stuff I used to do. Anyone else have any experience like this or have any reccomendations?
MapleMaxi
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Re: Anyone ever broken their back?

Post by MapleMaxi »

I had something similar in 2014. I landed on my head an my back hurt pretty bad but i thought it was just bruised. It didnt get better for a few days so we decided to check in hospital and they told me I broke t5. They also told me that surgery was not necessary. I just had to be carefull not to lift heavy stuff and so on. It healed pretty good and I was back on the bike after 6 weeks (doc told me to wait 3 more months but yolo :lol: ). I still have pain sometimes, especially after workout/riding, but I kinda learned to deal with it. Guess I was very lucky after all.

I dont really know what to recommend to you though. I never had physical therapy, but i worked with a personal trainer on a program to slowly strengthen my back.

Wish you good luck buddy, injuries suck
Sib43
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Re: Anyone ever broken their back?

Post by Sib43 »

I can't give you any recommendations but I wish you all the best. This doesn't sound good but hopefully you can get rid of the pain pretty soon. Keep us updated.
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SMR 510RR
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Re: Anyone ever broken their back?

Post by SMR 510RR »

I would never base a decision like this on one Doctor's opinion. I would get at least one more opinion, potentially two. I would try to find a ortho that works with professional athletes. They should be using the best technology/techniques when compared with run of the mill local orthos.

Good luck!
John23
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Re: Anyone ever broken their back?

Post by John23 »

I've only sprained 3 vertebrae in my back. Going thru the hoppdies and back end started to dance around. Threw me, on my back, right onto the crest of one of the whoops. Every ounce of air was shot out my body to the point I was flopping around like a fish out of water. Hurt like a mofo, but glad I was good.
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Halvorson
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Re: Anyone ever broken their back?

Post by Halvorson »

This is an X ray of it, you can see the curve in my spine. It's not as bad as some pictures I've seen but damn it hurts like a bitch.Image
Halvorson
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Re: Anyone ever broken their back?

Post by Halvorson »

SMR 510RR wrote:I would never base a decision like this on one Doctor's opinion. I would get at least one more opinion, potentially two. I would try to find a ortho that works with professional athletes. They should be using the best technology/techniques when compared with run of the mill local orthos.

Good luck!
I've met with 2 so far and one was supposedly the best in the state and they told me the same thing. I might have to travel to a bigger city out of state for a better opinion.
Cummings55
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Re: Anyone ever broken their back?

Post by Cummings55 »

I'm currently typing this from my hospital bed, I had vertebrae L5 and S1 fused together after a car accident that wasn't my fault. Not exactly sure if your injury would take the same route as mine, but basically my doctor took out a piece of bone in my back to use for grafting and then put two rods through my vertebrae, 2 TLIFF cages where my disc was, and 4 pedical screws to hold. I'm approaching the 24 hour mark and it is very easily the worst pain I've had in my life but that is expected. I got opinions from 2 doctors I trusted very much, one being from Northwestern Hospital in Chicago, very prestigious. He advised to do the same thing my doctor from an orthopaedic office suggested. It's a big choice to operate on your back so take your time.
kxalex31
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Re: Anyone ever broken their back?

Post by kxalex31 »

I actually just fractured my vertebrae about 10 weeks ago and they're letting me back on the bike this weekend. I believe the fracture was from my L1-3 and it was a compressed fracture. Hopefully it feels good this weekend though because I rode about 2 weeks after the accident happened cause I didn't think it was anything bad and sure enough, it hurt anytime I would over jump, case, hit a breaking bump, any of that. Backs suck
Halvorson
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Re: Anyone ever broken their back?

Post by Halvorson »

My doctor told me it would be a very intense surgery. They would have to cut a hole in my chest, deflate my lungs and get right behind where my heart is. He told me I broke it in almost the worst spot in terms of being able to operate.
TeamHavocRacing
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Re: Anyone ever broken their back?

Post by TeamHavocRacing »

You should sue the first doctor and make him pay for any further work on you.
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Big Smooth one3
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Re: Anyone ever broken their back?

Post by Big Smooth one3 »

TeamHavocRacing wrote:You should sue the first doctor and make him pay for any further work on you.
A conversation to consider having with parents/potential legal council, for sure. I have a hard time believing the physical activity you took on after the original incident and visit to the 1st doctor, wherein he gave you a clean bill of health in terms of bone structure integrity - specifically, if nothing else, the manual labor you did for an extended period of time under the medical advisement that no fractures were incurred - did anything but make your condition worse.

Also agree with SMR, especially if your local Dr. has told you it was about the worst place to have a fracture. If that is in fact the case, you should try to get at least one opinion from a highly trained/skilled professional who specializes in these types of injuries. The fact that this specific type of surgery exists is evidence that it has been done before, that it is still done in certain situations, and you need to talk to those doctors to better determine if you are one of those few who would most benefit from such an invasive procedure.

Wish the best of luck to you. Really crappy circumstance that you know much better than the rest of us, and really hope you can figure out the best path forward.
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Halvorson
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Re: Anyone ever broken their back?

Post by Halvorson »

Big Smooth one3 wrote:
TeamHavocRacing wrote:You should sue the first doctor and make him pay for any further work on you.
A conversation to consider having with parents/potential legal council, for sure. I have a hard time believing the physical activity you took on after the original incident and visit to the 1st doctor, wherein he gave you a clean bill of health in terms of bone structure integrity - specifically, if nothing else, the manual labor you did for an extended period of time under the medical advisement that no fractures were incurred - did anything but make your condition worse.
I have met with a very established law firm in the area too. I was told sueing a hospital is very hard and your chances of winning are very low. My only reasonable claim would be to sue my previous employer for doing further damage to my back, but my employers were nothing but nice and respectful to me and I basically slowly did it to myself. It wasn't their fault I got hurt before I worked there. I just did it on the intentions that I was fine otherwise since the first doctor in the ER told me I was.
Halvorson
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Re: Anyone ever broken their back?

Post by Halvorson »

I had an MRI done 1 week ago and then met with the surgeon and he said, "It has definitely gotten worse since it first occurred, but I can't see it continue to get even worse."
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