Lumbar compression fracture

Dang, a lot of broken backs out there. So encouraging to read these recovery stories!

Colonel Mustard wrote:

I fractured T11 thru L1 and some hairline fractures of a spinous process or two. I remember a lot of discomfort, felt like there was a nodule on my back and I had to take some narcotics to stay back laying during rest. Wore that TLSO brace for a couple months.

There’s some residual stiffness but it did really well with physical rehab, I would recommend a good PT over everything.

A good story from pro-climber Josh Wharton gave me stoke during my recovery: onlineclimbingcoach.blogspo…

Thank you for sharing and the link! 

Climb On wrote:

 To this day the thing that causes me the most pain is washing dishes lol. That slight bend as you stand over the sink gets me every time. 

I don't generally have chronic pain but this activity hurts the most. I don't know what it is about that lean over the sink but its brutal. I haven't convinced my husband that it means he should wash all the dishes to spare me the pain, but I'm working on it.  

Kelsey Blodgett wrote:

I don't generally have chronic pain but this activity hurts the most. I don't know what it is about that lean over the sink but its brutal. I haven't convinced my husband that it means he should wash all the dishes to spare me the pain, but I'm working on it.  

Let me know if you're ever successful, I could use a few pointers!

Climb On wrote:

This was my case as well and I imagine that was very difficult to hear. My accident was 25 years ago.  I spent the first few years taking way too many advil until I realized it didn’t make a bit of difference. As I said upthread, exercise and stretching made it bearable.  As time passes, you’ll figure out what works, and what doesn’t. To this day the thing that causes me the most pain is washing dishes lol. That slight bend as you stand over the sink gets me every time. It’ll fade as you get older and then you’ll reach the age where you were going to get back pain anyway! I don’t mean to make light of it, just to point out that expected long term chronic pain doesn’t always mean life changing or unbearable. An injury like this could easily mean a life of pain pills for someone who isn’t active, I’m sure if you look at online forums just dedicated to this injury you’ll see many different experiences. Hang in there, you’ve got  some pain ahead of you as you heal but you’ll get there. I’m sure this thread will die off at some point, but if you ever have questions please feel free to message me. 

I have a burst L5 and I’m not quite yet normal again (but thankful not to be dead or paralyzed). 

when you get a chance could you please link me to some of the online forms that deal with these types of injuries?  My neurosurgeon has been very hands off on my rehab, as in none.  but I feel like I could be doing something to help (specific stretches, specific exercises, etc).  

Kelsey Blodgett wrote:

I don't generally have chronic pain but this activity hurts the most. I don't know what it is about that lean over the sink but its brutal. I haven't convinced my husband that it means he should wash all the dishes to spare me the pain, but I'm working on it.  

for me it has been brushing my teeth.  it’s the same body position as washing dishes, where you’re bending over just slightly.  

I found that putting my knees up against the cabinet and flexing my butt helps.

as far as the dishes go, everything goes in the dishwasher.  no more handwashing dishes!  lol

One more data point for this thread: 

30ft fall resulted in a burst L5 for me.  I am lucky that I am not paralyzed or dead.  I am five months into this injury.  

if I stand for ~30min my back gets very sore.  but my day-to-day pain is fairly minimal and I am living a “normal life”.  but I am unable to do any sort of sporty activities such as running, jumping, bending, twisting.  Little things such as picking up items off the floor still require care, but i can kind of bend down now.  The most painful part of my day is waking up from bed.  i’m not sure if it’s from the position my body is in when I sleep, or from just not moving around much for eight hours.

The most difficult thing for me has been my lack of social contact from being pulled out of the climbing world.  I actually went into a pretty deep depression and i am just now starting to feel normal again.  

question for people who have experienced these types of injuries:  do you have any stretches or exercises that you found helpful?  did you guys do any PT?  if so, what kinds of things do they have you do?  

BryanOC wrote:

One more data point for this thread: 

30ft fall resulted in a burst L5 for me.  I am lucky that I am not paralyzed or dead.  I am five months into this injury.  

if I stand for ~30min my back gets very sore.  but my day-to-day pain is fairly minimal and I am living a “normal life”.  but I am unable to do any sort of sporty activities such as running, jumping, bending, twisting.  Little things such as picking up items off the floor still require care, but i can kind of bend down now.  The most painful part of my day is waking up from bed.  i’m not sure if it’s from the position my body is in when I sleep, or from just not moving around much for eight hours.

The most difficult thing for me has been my lack of social contact from being pulled out of the climbing world.  I actually went into a pretty deep depression and i am just now starting to feel normal again.  

question for people who have experienced these types of injuries:  do you have any stretches or exercises that you found helpful?  did you guys do any PT?  if so, what kinds of things do they have you do?  

My burst fracture (L1) and resulting fusion (T11-L3) are higher, and my S1 is partially lumbarized, so it's like I have 6 lumbar vertebrae as opposed to 5. So caveat here is that things are somewhat mechanically different in your case. I'd guess that at L5 there's more twisting/rotation caused by the pelvis than higher up in the lumbar spine, and that would impact pain and a lot of physical activities. Although given you're only 5 months out, I'm not sure if you're unable to do those activities because of pain or because you're still under the bending/lifting/twisting restrictions of the healing process? Did they do any sort of operative work on the fracture, or is the initial approach just bracing? 

I had a little bit of PT/OT while hospitalized (roughly 2 weeks post accident/surgery), really just to make sure I could get dressed, walk, go up and down stairs/in and out of tubs. Nothing once I was discharged. Sleeping was uncomfortable for quite a few months, and various wedge and lumbar pillows helped with finding a comfortable position. While I was in a brace and under bending/lifting/twisting restrictions, I really just did a lot of walking. Soreness from prolonged walking/standing persisted for probably 5-6 months. After I got out of the brace (3 months), I kept up the walking, and added in a lot of focus on core strengthening, and stretching my hamstrings out, as I found they got really tight. I would do legs-up-the-wall for a hamstring stretch that was easy on the spine, and I also eased back in to yoga, which I practice for 1-4 hours a week. After the stiffness/soreness from just walking and standing subsided, I found running was painful (weird referred pain in my stomach), as was hiking more than about 7 miles at a time (stiff/achey). Switching to shoes with a 4mm heel/toe drop or less seems to have fixed that for me, but it took about 2 years post-accident to really get back into it. As for climbing, I was top-roping easy routes on a tight belay maybe 5 months out (not with dr approval, but most of my restrictions had been lifted). Felt like a good idea since it targets both back and core for strength and mobility, and I found my back generally felt better climbing than not. Physically I'm back to where I was, even stronger, though I don't know how different that will be for the L5 fracture. 

Hope some of that can be helpful. I was in college when I had my accident, so upon being discharged, I went back to my hometown for a few months. The isolation was one of the worst parts. A group of climbing friends came to visit me one last time on discharge day, on their way to a day of bouldering. They meant well, but it absolutely crushed me to see them go and not know if I'd ever be able to rejoin. And, to be very honest, when I started climbing again, I was so embarrassed by how scared I was and how much strength I had to build back that I didn't want to be around them for quite some time. But I got there eventually. This sort of accident/injury is kind of a long haul, though when I look back on the last few years, I'm amazed by how fast it's gone . 

BryanOC wrote:

One more data point for this thread: 

30ft fall resulted in a burst L5 for me.  I am lucky that I am not paralyzed or dead.  I am five months into this injury.  

if I stand for ~30min my back gets very sore.  but my day-to-day pain is fairly minimal and I am living a “normal life”.  but I am unable to do any sort of sporty activities such as running, jumping, bending, twisting.  Little things such as picking up items off the floor still require care, but i can kind of bend down now.  The most painful part of my day is waking up from bed.  i’m not sure if it’s from the position my body is in when I sleep, or from just not moving around much for eight hours.

The most difficult thing for me has been my lack of social contact from being pulled out of the climbing world.  I actually went into a pretty deep depression and i am just now starting to feel normal again.  

question for people who have experienced these types of injuries:  do you have any stretches or exercises that you found helpful?  did you guys do any PT?  if so, what kinds of things do they have you do?  

I'm glad that you are starting to feel normal again. Injury can be pretty isolating - feel you on that.

I 1000% recommend going to a good physical therapist. I went right after my injury and was fine for a bit, but didn't really receive a program to keep doing after I was discharged. As a result I am now back in PT 9-10 years later. I used to go to a massage therapist but stopped during the pandemic and then the extra sitting I was doing during quarantine just wreaked havoc on my back. It was to the point that the muscles surrounding my thoracic spine were essentially rocks and I had almost no range of motion. This then screwed up a bunch of other things like my hips and shoulders and neck because everything is interconnected - yay!

Anyway, I'm starting to feel a bit more normal now after 2 months of weekly PT and will not allow them to graduate me without a plan for ongoing "maintenance." I have a lot of twisting exercises and things that help my individual vertebrae move, instead of just moving as 2 big chunks. Not sure if this translates to your injury so I definitely recommend going to see a PT - even if its just for a few sessions - to figure out what you need to do to keep your spine mobile.  

You might want to check Stuart McGills work he did a book called the gift of injury, with a power lifter who I believe had some bad compression issues to his spine.  I am dealing with a herniated disc and his work has been helpful not only for an idea of how to recover but also more realistic times for recovery, they are not fast but you got to believe in the Turtle!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oBpMAZKCZmU

wow, thank you all for the detailed responses.  this is very very helpful.

to answer some of the questions above:  i was sent out of the ER with a TLSO brace (thoracic lumbar sacral orthosis) which was very wonky, as it wore like a really weird corset.  once i got back home, kaiser  referred me out to a orthotics place and they fitted me with an LSO brace which seemed a bit better.

with how many pieces my L5 was in, I was fully expecting a kyphoplasty surgery, but the neurosurgeon said that really all they needed was limited mobility & rest, and the bone would heal on its own.  (The human body is amazing).  

The neurosurgeon has been pretty hands off about my PT.  he knows that I am chomping at the bit to get back to sporty stuff, and he just caution me to listen to my body and not push things if it feels uncomfortable or painful.  

I have my next CT scan scheduled and hopefully the neurosurgeon will be able to refer me out to PT.  I sent two messages to their office but so far they have not even responded yet.  :-/

thank you all for sharing your stories and experiences! 

a message of hope- i compression fractured T7 and T8 both around 30%. Thing is I don’t recall when I did it, except it was as an adult as I am 2.5 inches shorter than I was at age 22. I can’t recall any significant pain nor did I have a back brace at any time. I have no pain today either. I did not stop any activity for back pain. So everyone is different so don’t expect the worst. I also know how lucky I was and am.

The fractures could have happened any number of times - knocked out coming off my mountain bike or knocked out on an approach gully from a falling rock or any other number of bad falls .

Surgery should be the last option unless it is the only option 

Jkug Kug wrote:

a message of hope- i compression fractured T7 and T8 both around 30%. Thing is I don’t recall when I did it, except it was as an adult as I am 2.5 inches shorter than I was at age 22. I can’t recall any significant pain nor did I have a back brace at any time. I have no pain today either. I did not stop any activity for back pain. So everyone is different so don’t expect the worst. I also know how lucky I was and am.

The fractures could have happened any number of times - knocked out coming off my mountain bike or knocked out on an approach gully from a falling rock or any other number of bad falls .

Surgery should be the last option unless it is the only option 

Thanks for the message of hope. It’s almost two months for my case and my neurosurgeon almost yelled at me yesterday “ YOU DO NOT EXERCISE WITH A FRACTURE!” Well obviously I kinda moved too much during recovery…… The fracture isn’t getting worse, but it’s still healing so slooooowwwwwwww so sloooowwwwwwwwww. And I feel pain after standing/sitting/moving for just one hour. :( 

My case is definitely different but relevant. I’m still recovering  from a ~20ft ground fall outside resulting in spinal fusion surgery of my thoracic spine. Probably about two and half months after surgery now and I can do most daily functions with only occasional soreness.
My best advice would be find a real good Physical Therapist. My first was meh, and I recently switched. The difference in night and day. I get better exercise with less pain and I feel like I’m actually getting stronger. This played into the mental aspect too for me. Feeling that I’m moving towards a better recovery makes the woes of getting hurt string a little less

Best of luck to you 

Thanks to all who shared. Kind of shocked to see 2 people injured by failing to properly connect to an auto belay. No judgment, I'm sure there was a reason. But I take my 10 and 15 year old to the gym sometimes and they use those auto belays, which I've always thought of as more or less foolproof and so I don't always manage to doublecheck them, especially when we climb as a party of 3 and one of them drifts over to the auto belay to kill time while they wait for a belay from me. If you see this, did you just totally forget to clip anything to your harness, or did something actually malfunction? In any event, happy healing to everyone, and this thread is a good reminder climbing is not safe even in a gym or on a toprope; stay vigilant even and especially when not on the sharp end. 

bryans wrote:

Thanks to all who shared. Kind of shocked to see 2 people injured by failing to properly connect to an auto belay. No judgment, I'm sure there was a reason. But I take my 10 and 15 year old to the gym sometimes and they use those auto belays, which I've always thought of as more or less foolproof and so I don't always manage to doublecheck them, especially when we climb as a party of 3 and one of them drifts over to the auto belay to kill time while they wait for a belay from me. If you see this, did you just totally forget to clip anything to your harness, or did something actually malfunction? In any event, happy healing to everyone, and this thread is a good reminder climbing is not safe even in a gym or on a toprope; stay vigilant even and especially when not on the sharp end. 

In my case, I just totally forgot to clip in. There's a little more context to it than that, but still, no mechanical failure, I just forgot, and didn't realize until I let go and it was too late. I will say that particular gym didn't, and still doesn't, use belay gates (those big cloth triangles that you clip the locker to that serve as warning signs against forgetting to clip in, and also alert to a climber above), and I do think if they used those, it probably would've prevented my accident. But I'm sure people have forgotten to clip in even with belay gates in place--forgetting to clip in seems much more common in autobelay related accidents than any kind of mechanical failure.  

Compression fracture in my L4/5 from wrestling in high school (undiagnosed until a few years later, was seen in an X ray after chronic back pain). Funny enough, climbing is one of the things that actually relieves my back pain typically, and climbing regularly has allowed me to live with less. Not sure if it's the associated deadhangs that help decompress the spine a bit, the general activity/movement, or what. There's still little bits of pain here and there but if I actually do my PT exercises (very rare) then I'm genuinely pain free. I'm 25 now but my back was in pretty debilitatingly bad pain each morning when I was 20 or so until I started getting back into being active regularly.

bryans wrote:

Thanks to all who shared. Kind of shocked to see 2 people injured by failing to properly connect to an auto belay. No judgment, I'm sure there was a reason. But I take my 10 and 15 year old to the gym sometimes and they use those auto belays, which I've always thought of as more or less foolproof and so I don't always manage to doublecheck them, especially when we climb as a party of 3 and one of them drifts over to the auto belay to kill time while they wait for a belay from me. If you see this, did you just totally forget to clip anything to your harness, or did something actually malfunction? In any event, happy healing to everyone, and this thread is a good reminder climbing is not safe even in a gym or on a toprope; stay vigilant even and especially when not on the sharp end. 

There have been several threads on auto-belay accidents, probably the most common reason for serious gym accidents. My case was typical, the cause being distraction. I was using an auto-belay and disconnected to rest and get a drink. Returned and neglected to tie-in. The fact there is only one thing to do using an auto-belay, tie in, makes it easier to forget than if there is a series of steps to being taken. Also, not having a partner contributes to the risk. There have been several threads on this topic that I don't have the time at the moment to search for.  Personally, I'd be hesitant to let a kid use an auto-belay without anyone checking on him.

DJ Smith wrote:

My case is definitely different but relevant. I’m still recovering  from a ~20ft ground fall outside resulting in spinal fusion surgery of my thoracic spine. Probably about two and half months after surgery now and I can do most daily functions with only occasional soreness.
My best advice would be find a real good Physical Therapist. My first was meh, and I recently switched. The difference in night and day. I get better exercise with less pain and I feel like I’m actually getting stronger. This played into the mental aspect too for me. Feeling that I’m moving towards a better recovery makes the woes of getting hurt string a little less

Best of luck to you 

Thanks for sharing! I consulted two neurosurgeons and they have different options. One suggested avoiding any exercises (except walking) during recovery cause exercises won’t make a fracture better and physical therapy isn’t necessary when the bone hasn’t completely healed. Inappropriate exercises during the first two/three months may cause long term chronic pain. Another one is a outdoor lover and snowboarder himself so he understands my urge of getting back. He referred me to PT. I am confused when would be a good timing for PT from a long term point of view.

Anyway, I will begin my PT next week. Wishing both of us a speedy recovery. 

damn, there are so many of us!  

speedy recovery to all!! (mentally and physically)