Life before December 2008:
12+ years of:
5x a week of:
Teaching cardio box+ 5 am bootcamp= Spondylolysis (Pars Fracture of the Spine)
[Source]
I did not come to this diagnosis until 10 months later.
Let’s start from the beginning.
Dec. 2008- I was sick for a week with “mono” ( quotes because I had the symptoms but the test was negative)
- I felt some pain in my lower back, but I was laying down for a week I figured it was nothing.
-I was busy with finals week oh did I mention I also had bronchitis?
We were good friends with the Dr. at this point and we realized that we did not like her. Due to insurance conditions we could not switch doctors if we had seen them within a month. Because I kept getting sick I had to stay with her.
Finally when it hurt to bend down and brush my teeth I went to my doctor- after pounding my lower back she sent me home with a prescription for 800mg of Ibuprofen 3X a day. And muscle relaxants….
- I don’t like taking drugs for anything but cramps- I had a bad reaction to a cough medicine and I am now terrified of any sort of medication.
I decided to take one pill a day and I felt a bit better until the effects wore off.
At this time I was also seeing an infectious disease specialist and a surgeon. For my larger than life lymph nodes in my neck- They were literally sticking out and my classmates enjoyed touching my “lumps”. I promise it was not as weird as this sounds. ( No one knew what my lumps were- they kinda went away after 9 months- medical mystery?) I can still feel them, but they are much much smaller.
So for a few months my problem was put on the back burner (literally)- I had other medical problems to deal with, along with a full semester of classes I was pretty busy.
At this point, I had stopped doing my own workout- but I was still teaching cardio box…. ( Mistake)
I would feel my back in pain when I did jumping jacks- or anything that required impact. So I would demonstrate for one or two reps and then cue my classes to continue on. This worked out pretty well, I was able to keep teaching and not “hurt”
-Not sure if this was a good idea but, it worked.
I went back to the doctor and she sent me to a spine surgeon, after more poking and pounding my spine I was “diagnosed” with a bulging disc and sent to physical therapy.
At this point I was having trouble lifting my legs to put pants on, sitting and using my laptop hurt. I would have nerve pain down my legs. It was not a burning or tingling- it was an uncomfortable sensation.
It honestly felt like I had broken my butt or something…
My general doctor also wanted me to have an MRI- but the insurance denied this because I was not in any sort of car accident or other trauma.
So enter Summer 2009 where I started physical therapy- biggest mistake of my life…..
I will finish up my story in the next post Injury Part II
Thanks for reading- writing this has brought back some not fun memories but I want people to learn from my story and not make the same mistakes.
* Feel free to share any injury stories you may have*
