I’ve had pretty bad back pain for the past two weeks (can’t run, and even pushing off the walls in the pool hurts). I just got back from my Chiropractor and the x-ray shows a compression fracture in the t8 (mid back). About 25% compression. He thinks it’s an old injury re-aggravated. He thinks 3-4 weeks of no running, twice a week in-office treatment, and massages should fix me right up. He told me that riding and swimming would be fine. I’ve had great success with this chiropractor in the past, so I believe what he says, but has anyone else gone through this and how did it work out for you? I’m pretty bummed about the no running part, but back pain is no fun too.
One of my friends had something real similar to that a couple of months ago. She had to take about 3-4 weeks off. From what I understand has healed up real well. Just to let you know, she is running in the nashville marathon at the end of this month, so don’t let it get you bummed out.
That’s in a relatively stable area of the spine. Probably a compression of the T8 vertebral body with no displacement. I’ve had compression fractures of this area in my office. All you can really do is soft tissue massage, etc around the area and let the compression fracture heal. Usually takes up to six weeks. The advice your chiro is giving you seems very sound. My ex wife had the same problem with a T6 injury.
Don’t know how old you are, but if you are a young guy with normal bone density, you would usually know when you fractured T8 - do you know? The alternative scenario is that the “fracture” is developmental; it is common for adolescents to have had Scheuermann’s disease (a disorder that causes wedged vertebrae) without knowing it. This may not change your chiroprator’s advise as to what to do about it now, but if it really was a fracture, and you don’t know when it happened, you should have your bone density checked to rule out osteoporosis.
Thanks for feedback. I do feel better about my injury today than I did yesterday. It’s funny, a friend of mine came down with a stress fracture and was talking about giving up on this years season. I told him 6 weeks of rest is nothing and you’ll come back better than ever. Then I get the news of no running for 4-weeks and I slip into a mild depression thinking I will lose all my hard earned running fitness.
It is strange that this injury is real common in senior citizens with weak bones and I’m only 38 and supposedly healthy.