[sailchef]

After having lower back pain since I was a teen I finally decided to go to a doctor and get it checked out thoroughly. I now have the time to look into it and it’s getting worse. I always thought it was because of stressed mussels and tendons from the heavy lifting I do at work and the extreme sports I have always enjoyed. I have lived with it my entire adult life and just accepted it as my just dues for living an aggressive lifestyle. The last few years it has been getting worse and stretching and exercise haven’t been relieving the pain like it had in the past. So I decided to start the process with my family doctor and had some x-rays taken then an MRI, and then more x-rays.

Last week I finally got to see an orthopedic spine specialist. We talked a bit and he asked a few questions wanting to know how long I’ve had this pain. He questioned the type of sports I played when I was younger. He questioned my tolerance for pain. I told him I could ski the moguls all day and then be laid out flat on my back the next day, and that it was just a normal thing for me. Windsurfing the same way, I would sail, jump, flip, crash and burn all day, until my back was so numb that I had to quit. It has just been a part of my life.

The Doc had my x-rays hanging on the wall while we were talking.

He looked at me and said,

“I know exactly what you did”………“When you were younger you broke your back”

What???????????????

“You broke your back.”


I stood there speechless. I have been walking and talking for the last 50 some years. How could I have broken my back with out knowing it?

According to the Doctor, it happens more than people realize. In boys it’s usually seen in football players, and in girls it happens in gymnastics. I was floored. He showed me a hairline break in my lower spine and said that he has seen quite a few of these. Also, two of the discs had slid forward. He told me he couldn’t believe I wasn’t experiencing more pain shooting down my legs and questioned how I have been so active for the last 40 years. At this point I turned stone cold, got a little light headed, and had to sit down.

I think I know when it happened. It was freshman HS football. I was playing defensive safety and was literally bulldozed over backwards when I went to make a tackle. I went in too low and he caught me with a knee. I heard a crack and experienced a sharp pain. Long story short, I was taken off the field on a stretcher and run to the hospital in the ambulance. The doctors back then (1970) said it was torn ligaments. After a few weeks I was back on the field. I never looked into it any farther. My father, who was also my coach, wasn’t fond of weakness and to complain only got me into trouble. So I never said anything about it.

So now, 40 years later, I am looking at having surgery. I’m 57 and If the stiffness and pain progress the way it has over the past few years I think I could be in a lot of trouble when I hit 60. Figuring that I will probably still be working until I am 70 I am considering having the surgery.

I really feel I need to do this now to get healthy. I’m single, have no family, and don’t have any debt. Financially, as long as my insurance covers the medical bills I think I could take care of everything else and worry about work later.

I would really like to hear opinions from the PP brain trust.

What do the Doc’s out there have to say?

I go back to see the specialist again next week.