Bad Back And I'm Only 17

[Bionix]

Recently I've been really depressed because of the condition my back is in. First, I'll just list the conditions I have... Scoliosis, Degenerative Disc Disease, Spondylosis, and a fractured vertibrae (this caused most of my trouble). I've led a pretty crazy life, one thats apparentley been hard on my back. I've played hockey since i was 1 and a half, Snowboarding, Lacrosse, etc. Hockey is pretty much my life, I was planning on playing in college. So much for that. Physical therapy is gonna have to work wonders.... and I'm kinda skeptical.....

 

I wish I could just take a magic pill and make it better, or at the least get surgery. Surgery is out of the question though, because if I got it... they would have to fuse two of the messed up areas which means I would lose 30% of my range of motion. Imagine that, at age 17. No thanks.

 

I'd give anything for a brand new back, I hope you all with healthy ones don't take it for granted.

 

 

Hmph

 

So to make this post worthwhile:

 

Does anyone else here have a bad back? Did physical therapy cure or help you?

[Fireonice]

no i dont BUT my gf does and its very minor. The docter said that she could wear a back brace for 2 mounths and her scoliousis would be gone. She only complains about her back every once inawile. She also goes to the docter once a mouth so her back doesnt get worse and so it helps with the pains. She told me that they put some kind of masage thing on her back that feels rly good.

 

So guess you could say that therapy is sorta helping.

[Phil]

I've had a bad back since I was your age, including a herniated disc. My life has been about doing what the pain lets me. But...I choose hard physical work daily as my lifestyle, so it doesn't have a lot of chances to get better.

 

Physical Therapy? Yes, it can work wonders if you do what the Therapist tells you to. Make no mistake, the Therapist can do a lot, but ultimately it's on you.

 

The single most helpful thing to me was walking, yep walking. Up and down hills is best, 5 times or so a week, at least 3 miles, more is better. The side benefit is that you can achieve aerobic fitness just by walking. It can give you your life back, it did me.

 

You are absolutely on track about surgery, DON'T! Most people choose surgery because it gets them out of pain faster, but you'll pay later, as you already are aware. I healed my herniated disc by letting it heal on it's own, then walking, my life is better after the disc than before.

 

Youth is on your side.

[Nerm]

I don't have a bad back, but I know the feeling of not being able to play a sport in college due to a physical problem. I was well on my way to a full scholarship when in my senior year of HS I messed up left knee and completely ruined my left ankle. I still have a good amount of pain anytime I play a sport, etc. and have very little flexibility to this day and that was about 3 years ago. I did therapy and it helped me get better and have gained a lot back, but even with therapy my knee and ankle will never be the same. I would recommend you at least try physical therapy for your back. With the way you described it surgery should be a last resort kind of option IMO.

[Bionix]

Thanks for the replies guys. I think that hardest part of it for me, will be forcing myself to change my mindset from feeling like my body is invincible and I don't even have to worry about hurting myself... to... being cautious, and holding back from things I want to do, or at least not being able to do them with the intensity I normally would choose.

 

And I just realized, weight lifting is gonna be really hard. I already lost all the weight i forced myself to gain, it's gonna be even ahrder to get it back now.

 

Nerm, that's really horrible man... but you know... my mom said this to me which actually made me have a little more optimistic view on this: "When God shuts a door on you, you just have to open another"

 

I'f I really can't play hockey anymore, or well enough to continue progressing and play in college... maybe I can find a new passion.

[Phil]

Yes, your biggest adjustment is mental.

 

I think you may be wrong about weightlifting, once your back heals you can go back to it, and you might be surprised to find that the muscle is easier to build the second time.

[Nerm]

Bionix, your mom is right. I can still play sports and stuff as leisure which eases some of the emotional pain lol. It worked out better for me anyway since the college I would have played ball for had a lousy IT program and the college I ended up going to is IvyTech which IT is their main focus, so career wise I guess it worked out for the better.

[noseeme]

Hm. I'm almost 17, and I have extremely bad back problems, too. I don't have scoliosis, or any other conditions like that, but I had compression fractures of 85% of all of my vertebrae, from my lower neck to the area above the coccyx. I'm actually in pain right now. I do some weightlifting, and it has been aggravating my old condition.

[road-runner]

I have had a bad back most of my life, and have everything you have and then some. I could not walk or do anything hardly in 1996 after a work injury, I had to have surgery, I picked one of the best Neurosurgeons in the Med. Center Hou, Tex he is is Assistant proffessor of bayloy college of neurosurgy. He got me back going again. In Aug. 2003 I used him again for a different disc. I need a 3rd sugery now but when I went to see him I had all those holes in my legs (chronic venous stasis) he told me when I get that healed up then come back. I have tryed the facet injections 10 so far but thats not the problem. A MRI shows the disc he fixed in 1996 have ruptured again along with others and all kinds of of other stuff, meanwhile morphine and muscle relaxers help me untill I can get my surgery.

 

 

Edited April 30, 2005 by road-runner