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My son sent me a text, he got a call from the doctor, he has a fractured back.

I just heard, now I wait. More X-rays are needed, so I hope he is leaving work now.

OMG, it is hard to breathe when you are freaking out. And I have to be calm so he stays calm. It is just me as his dad is across the country.

Anyone know about this? Any experiences?

I had a cousin fracture her back and she came out of it okay. I can't remember every detail, but no paralysis. Have you heard more?

I'm sorry. My experience is that like other bones, there can be minor fractures with no movement of the bones involved that require basic rest and rehab to heal. With movement, there is possibly surgery and pins.

Hopefully it's not complicated. I would also be freaking out too though. I'll be thinking of you and wishing the best.

Edit: I fractured my pelvis and vertebrae and broke my collar bone in a car accident 25+ years ago. No problems with my pelvis and back since. My collarbone didn't heal correctly, and I declined further surgery to reset the bones. I wish I had done it though.

[This message edited by humantrampoline at 6:51 PM, Friday, February 18th]

In my experience, most folks assume a broken back to be worse than it typically is.

4 years ago I was in an accident that left me with compression factures in my T4 to T8 along with fractures in C4 to C6, among many other breaks. It was rough, but I was back at work installing kitchen cabinets 4 months later.

Ive had many friends and family who have broken their backs, most were all in their lumbar and needed to wear the "turtle shell".

Unfortunately broken backs are more common than most folks know, but it has been my experience that everyone has come out ok in the end.

He went for more X-rays at lunch. We will know more next week.

He has pain but has been functioning. My son has a super high pain threshold, so when something bothers him he needs to get it checked.

You guys have reassured me that it doesn’t have to be bad, but yes when you hear a fracture in the spine, it is hard to not freak out.

He seems cool so far, but I know he needs a hug. I wish I could make it better

Back fractures can be no big deal and the majority of them are. If he is up and walking and working and not complaining about numbness or tingling in any extremities then you can take a deep breath.

Often (especially in young people) there really is no treatment for them, unless there are pieces floating free, then they want to remove those so they don't impinge on the spinal cord, but just a plain old fx, is usually make sure there isn't impingement and take it easy.

So I would recommend he refrain from ski jumping, triple axels, and ladders until he hears more, but the fact that he is working and up and about tells me that he probably is going to be just fine.

Back fractures do not equal spinal cord injury.

My daughter had a stress fracture in her back from tumbling 3 years ago, and then again right now. She's in a horrible white plastic brace, but otherwise she's totally fine and will be totally fine when she stops tumbling for cheer. Her friend had a similar injury from volleyball. It's crazy, seems so much more prevalent now, maybe because sports seem so much more intense. Or maybe we just didn't know when we were kids. I only heard about stress fractures in legs from track (I've had two)

There was just a story in the news this week from LA. At the Super Bowl parade on Wednesday, an NFL photo editor fell backwards off a stage (I think 7-8') and fractured her back. She spent one night in the trauma center, then was released home where she is 'feeling okay'. So yea, it can happen, and be not as big a deal as it sounds like.

Healing wishes for your son.

Sending healing mojo to your son!

Thank you so much everyone

I hope you and your son are doing okay. I am so sorry this happened! My uncle fell out of a tree (worked for the Alberta equivalent of the MNR) and fractured his back and neck rather badly in his late 40s. He had some physio, recuperation time, convalescence, and was perfectly fine. Just some twinges of arthritis later on in life and he is 77 now and fine.

I know that feeling of panic, my oldest is a millwright and has had some truly awful close calls over the years including when I had to rush him three hours away for a completely crushed index finger. That awful feeling when your kids are hurt. Take a deep breath and I will send you good thoughts.

Take care.

Any updates? How is your son?

Hope hee is doing well. I fractured 2 vertebrae in my 20’s, I developed some arthritis in my 50’s.

I have zero experiences on your question.

I'm just sending good mojo your direction and hope everything goes well with your son.

((Tallgirl))

He went in for more X-rays and is playing phone tag with the doctor now. It is very frustrating as we still have Covid safety measures here, slows down things.

I will let you know when I hear.