Fell off bike after Christmas resulting in 4 transverse process fractures in lower back. Boney bits to the side of vertabrae and well away from main spinal nerve. Fractures are stable with no nerve damage so very lucky but still pretty sore and have muscle and ligament damage also. Genuinely not looking for sympathy but really to know if anyone else has done the same/similar and how the recovery went? Possible 6 weeks off work with 3 months till fully healed, which I can cope with but am apprehensive about degree of recovery and possible long term implications. Consultant said worst case could be chronic pain and weakness in my left leg/side. Web info seems to be fairly positive but cant find anything from somebody who has actually experienced the injury, all seems to be compaction fractures. Any insight would be much appreciated.

Lucky bastard!! (In terms of how much worse it could have been I mean…)

You need to find a specialist who deals with recovery for athletes from serious injuries. The NHS just put you back together, they are not necessarily going to help you get back to where you want to be long term fitness wise and how to stay there.

I wish I had seen a good sports physio after I torn ligaments in my knee 10 years ago.

How about this
Pressure chamber therapy

Having fractured mine 15 years ago and the OH doing hers 18 months ago I cannot recommend a good course of physio enough. Once the doctor gives you the all clear to start having physiotherapy get yourself to a good, specialist physio and pay whatever they ask.

I didn’t get very good treatment and mine has ached every day since I did it. The good news is that both of us are back riding out bikes, hopefully you will be too.

Best of luck with the recovery.

No answer for you, but good luck with the recovery!

jings, I am suddenly feeling ashamed for being down about my damaged mouth and nose after a big off 5 weeks ago. What happened ?

Thought I was bad breaking 5 ribs on Boxing Day out on bike ! Hope you get better soon fella 🙂

Article in this months Dirt – The Cost of Doing Business by Darren Roberts from Peak Performance Fitness. Talking about how when you get injured you need to find a specialist to help you recover properly.

He works with the Atherton’s so probably not cheap (or available) but maybe worth a look?

My mate fell out of a tree trying to get a kids football. Broken back, passed out, went blue and everything. No damage to the spinal cord. Back to work with a bit of a stiff back but nothing too much. He is a copper so had to pass their medical and fitness tests.

I don’t have the full medical details but at the time it happened they were fearing the worst and scaring the shit out of his wife and family. I think he was back on the beat within 6-8 weeks.

Hope yours works out well.

DO THE PHYSIO EVEN WHEN YOU DONT WANT TO. IT DOES HELP!

I guess every case is different, I broke mine in a motorcycle accident when I was 19. (51 now) Six weeks of taking it easy & straight back onto another bike…..invincible see 🙁 Everything was OK until I hit my thirties & then the problems started. I began to experience pain the likes of which I’ve never experienced before. This would come on randomly & would cause my legs to collapse, writhing on the ground in agony & being instantly drenched in sweat. This was followed by 6 to 8 weeks on pain killers to get things back to normal. Normal was a continuously stiff & inflexible back. I bought a recumbent as cycling an upright was impossible. This was situation normal for 7 years.

I woke up one morning & the pain had eased overnight. The next day it had gone completely & I’ve had no related recurrence during the last 10 or so years. The medics were convinced that the pain was related to the injury I’d sustained. When the pain went it caused a bit of head scratching as I’d been in absolute agony & nobody could understand how I’d become “cured” It sure felt good though & spurred me to buy several new bikes 8)

If I had advice to offer it would be to make sure you get to see the best specialist you can. Make this you mission.

Good luck.

D.

Many thanks for responses, very useful advice. Crash was nothing really, a slow motion off on a fairly gentle slope that I’d ridden dozens of times before. I braked and bike started sliding sideways, I came off and rolled and half way through my back snapped. Sort of crash Ive had loads of and roll back to my feet. Doctor said it was muscle/tendon contraction that caused the fractures rather than any impact. Ive had untreated back issues for a while which I think have in part caught up with me. Interestingly the physio at the hospital said I wouldn’t need any treatment which seems odd. Maybe BigEars point about NHS only patching you up.
Thanks again.

Maybe you can get some inspiration from Dan Atherton’s experience.

http://dirt.mpora.com/news/dan-atherton-we-can-rebuild-him-again-part-1.html

http://www.vitalmtb.com/features/The-Dan-Atherton-Interview-Part-1-Long-Walks-in-the-Minds-Cage,128

In my experience the NHS rehab is very variable and reducing as funding shrinks.

I’ve had some fabulous physio and I’ve been told after breaking my ankle that I wouldn’t need any!

Good private sports physio will cripple your wallet but fix you properly, take your pick.

Good luck.

Firstly I hope you get are back to normal ASAP

Secondly try and be positive. I have wasted lots of time and energy worrying about injuries. As far as possible stick to the positives and it sounds like you have lots of reasons to be positive

Secondly if money for lots of physio is an issue try and find a physio who will work within your limits

I have a local physio and he works with me sorting things out. His expertise is vital but where possible we rely on me stretching and strengthening to prescription. We’ve have nearly go my ankle back to full range of motion on a bout 4 15 minute appointments. He prods and measures and corrects what I’m doing.

It won’t work for everything of course. But it is great to have some one i trust. Years ago i read in a magazine if the physio says I’m not really sure but we’ll try 6 sessions of blank then find some one else. In my experience this has been good advice

Dan Atherton at about 6minutes in

The three four(!) cyclists I know who have broken their backs all swear by a rigourous physio program. All are now riding again, which given one of the accidents is near miraculous.
Have hope & stick at it!

There’s a series of exercises for the back you can do with the trx suspension straps, might be worth investigating. Someone on this forum mentioned them as helping with their back problems and strengthening the back/core.

NHS are very variable, when I did mine (L1/2 compression, not as bad as yours) 3 years ago I went in to the GP after getting back to get a referral for private treatment. GP put a call in to a friend who happened to be a back specialist, got me an appointment the next day, and then due to a cancellation I came out of that appointment and went straight into another one for a body brace.

I was out of the brace and in physio 12 weeks later, back on the bike after about 6 months as I was told not to cycle until it was fully healed as it could cause further issues.

They did admit to me that had I not of dropped lucky with the appointments there would likely have been a 4-6 week wait for the initial examination and a further 4-6 week wait for the brace to be fitted which I thought was mad as that would have put me well on the way to being healed before the brace even went on. Hope yours heals well, and as mentioned make sure you put the work in to get it back up to strength. I didn’t do the physio like I should, and it’s still causing me issues now largely because of that, as the muscles that I needed to build back up to support it aren’t doing their job.

Quick one spent a couple of months in hospital with crushed and fractured vertebraes. Long time ago but only way I could sort it was to make sure the muscles that support your spine are strong. Your vertebrae are held in place by muscles. Weak muscles = bad back without injuring it. So I am afraid weight training is, once fit enough, the way forward. It will also help to teach you to lift properly if you pay attention to the trainer or the book your using. Until I got sceptic arthritis 2 years ago I played hooker so definitely helped. Obvious exercise is the “good morning” back exercise. Google it.