Back Injury

Just wondering if anyone here could offer some advice. Unfortunately last week while snowboarding, I fell from a considerable height in the park and broke my L1 Vertebra, initially it was extremely sore but seems to be improving. Has anyone here broken this bone or had a similar experience?. I am curious about the healing process, the Doctor told me after 8 weeks I could snowboard again, personally I think he was being a little optimistic. I am just concerned if it will give me any pain during wakebording, I probably won't be wakeboarding for another 4 months, so I'm hoping things should be good by then. Not posting to seek for sympathy!! But any help or advice would be very much appreciated.
Thanks,

Gareth

You have the benefit of being young, but the back is not something to take lightly. If you do not feel the doctor is doing you right find a second opinion from a spinal specialist. Of all my injuries the back is the most crippling and painfull experience I have ever had, and I did not break it but slipped a disk. Definetely stay away from extreme sports until fully healed but physical therapy is a must and you will need to push hard. Best wishes on the recovery.

I agree with Peter on this one....but I'm sure Leggester can give you a little more insight on lowback injuries. ( He's quite a bit OLDER and has had similar injuries)

You return to activity also has to do with the location of the fracture.
Dallas Friday had an injury to an area of the Vertebra about 2 yrs ago and was able to return after @ 4+ wks off.

stop being such a ••• and just get stuck in

I have a friend that apparently broke five (5) vertebra in his back falling off a box while snow boarding. His break was to the little fingers that come off each side of the vertebra. He had no surgery and is snow boarding this year but not as crazy as before. He took the whole year off to recover. I wouldn't play around trying to do anything if your back does not feel like its healed. I would suggest the second opinion as well. I would find a good sports doc and get it looked at again. You don't want to mess around with your back and be miserable forever. Speaking from experience.

Thanks for the advice, I think I will go for a second opinion this week, it doesn't seem to be improving as yet, and was quite painful over the weekend.

I shattered my L1 in a skydiving accident about 13 years ago. My orthopedic Doc still doesn't know why I'm not paralyzed. God was watching over me. It required a Lumbar Lamenectomy with rod placement covering 5 vertebrae and quite a hospital stay. I was lucky to be younger 28 when this happened and recovered really well. I still do everything I used to do just not as flexible.
AS for the pain. It was like someone beat me with a Ball Bat. I would say your going to be sore for a while and your lucky it wasn't more serious.
This can be serious stuff so Rest up and take it easy for awhile. Walking, Running and just moving your legs are activities We all take for granted until faced with this type of injury.
Ok I'm off my Soap box.

Good luck with your recovery.

Murphy:

I totally understand. I had a Lumbar Lamenectomy at L5/S1 eleven years ago. It totally feels like someone is hitting you with a baseball bat. I'm 99% now. Took a good 3 months after the surgery before I could get out of bed and not notice I'd been hurt.

Gareth: By all means get a second opinion, or a 3rd. Don't wait either. Time is NOT on your side. If there's something in there pressing on a nerve or something, it can create perminent nerve damage if you wait too long to correct it. I liken it to a kink in a hose. If you leave it kinked to long, it will be perminent. If it comes to the point where your doctors are telling you that you need surgery, ask your doctor how many times he's done the surgery. I ended up with a guy who only does back surgery, and does about 4 or 5 a week. He had over 4000 surgeries when I hooked up with him. My orthopedic assisted.

I still feel a little heat in my leg from time to time and I'm not as flexible as I was, but I'm 99% there.

I was down for 51 weeks with a back injury - today, I am convinced that it took so long to heal b/c I didnt slow down enough. I'd wait until it didnt hurt doing normal activity to start sports again and continually re-injured it. Just take it easy.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

The fact that both of you have recovered almost 100% is certainly very comforting, that was my concern, as I am pursuing a career in construction. Going to see another Doctor this week, so I'll take it from there. It's such a bummer not being able to put my socks on in the morning!! And the funny part is, when I laugh it kills me, same goes for coughing and sneezing.

Sorry to hear about your break. I suffered a break at L3 about month ago, and I've sought multiple opinions, including the chief of the spinal service at Kaiser and also a chiropractor. My understanding is that a lot of it depends on the nature and severity of the break. If you crush or shatter the entire vertebra, like Murphy, that is the worst. Anything near the spinal cord is dangerous. Mine was not as bad, as I broke out a wedge-shaped chunk on the opposite side from the cord. The doc said it should heal back relatively well, but he still advised me to take three months off from anything physical, and he is having me start physical therapy to work on range of motion and strength. I'm 36, so I guess for somebody like Dallas Friday, who is half my age, her body might be able to recover more quickly. I was ambivalent about using the chiropractor, because they tend not to be standardized or regulated as well, and in my opinion, about 20% of what they do is medically legitimate, while a lot of the rest of it is, er... not. However, they are very good at making pain go away. I had significant reduction in pain after one visit to the chiropractor (using infared and electromagmetic tx), and by the second visit my pain was all but eliminated. BUT, I did clear the chiropractic care with my MD, who said it was fine. Now that I'm in physical therapy, they do not want me using the chiropractor anymore (I guess to avoid a situation of two treatments not being coordinated).
I understand there are some long-term implications, like the likelihood of developing degenerative joint disease (arthritis/stiffness)prematurely, and I've been told that strength and flexibility training (like yoga or tai chi) for the rest of my life can help a lot with this.
Hope this info is helpful.
Good luck with your recovery.