Parents Back Pain from Lumbar extension/hyperextension

[taylortumbles]

My daughter was doing back walkovers and didn't kick hard enough on one, had all her weight over her shoulders but not enough momentum, and everything came down on her back hard and she hyper-extended her back. I have taken her to the pedi-chiropractor and there is no injury beyond lumbar hyper-extension. She has been going three days per week for three weeks now and avoiding doing all lumbar extension type moves (walkovers, bridges, backbends). When I gave the coach the doctor's note, she took her off all tumbling except cartwheels, round-offs, and handstands and it is driving my daughter nuts. Even after three weeks of therapy, a bridge will still cause her pain but now she is frustrated and said she would rather work through the pain then be forced to work on nothing but handstands, cartwheels, and round offs. The other downside is my insurance is bucking paying for the chiropractor, even though it is clearly stated in our policy that they pay with a $25 co-pay. We are not rich, not even close, and I fundraise like crazy just so my daughter can be involved in sports. We are in the poor house just from paying the $25 co-pay and can't afford to take her any longer. Any advice on what to do at this point? How long does this type of injury take to heal?

 

[bogwoppit]

If it hurts please do not let her do it. It could take a month or two to heal, but if she doesn't give it time it could turn into a long term problem. Take her to the doctor and get her evaluated properly, xrays are a good thing to evaluate the issue. How a chiro can evaluate back pain without an xray is a bit of a mystery to me.

 

[taylortumbles]

The chiro did extensive x-rays (hate to see the bill for that!). She found a few other probs too and my daughter is getting scanned for new orthotics.

 

[bogwoppit]

Then take the xrays to the doctor, maybe they can refer you to a sports therapist that is covered by your insurance plan. The problem with back pain is that there is no really good predictor of how long pain can take to go away. I assume your dd does not do gym with orthotics, which means anything she does in gym her body is misaligned. That can cause more pain too.

 

[profmom]

I looked at some of your past posts, and I see this is not the first time your daughter has had back issues. If she's still in pain after three weeks, I think you should take her to an orthopedist and have her evaluated. It may well be that the orthopedist can work from at least some of the x-rays the chiropractor took. I don't think at this point you know for sure what kind of injury your daughter has, so there's no way to tell how long it will take to heal or what she should/shouldn't be doing. All good thoughts for you and for her, and I really hope it is nothing serious!

 

[mimi]

I would think even doing round offs could be jarring to the back depending on what is wrong with it. Be careful and good luck!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

tell your daughter to shut up and lay low. you and your husband pay the bills and backs can become a serious problem.

 

[2G1B]

My older DD fell off the bar doing a front hip circle last fall. She landed on her shoulder and her legs flipped up to her head, hyper extending her back. I didn't realize how much it was hurting her until watching her do back walkovers the next day and she could barely do them. I took her to the ortho and for the first week we just had her not doing bridges or anything like that; but it still hurt. In the end she too 3 weeks off. The only thing that she did was stretch a little, and not even much of that. This was at the doctor's orders, he said basically, "I NEVER say this; but what I want is for you to go be a coach potato. NO ACTIVITIES. No riding your bike, no walking the dog, no PE, no cartwheels... NOTHING." It really helped.

 

[taylortumbles]

Thanks everyone for your input. I will be taking her to a specialist that deals specifically with sports injuries at the Orthopedic Institute 7:30am Saturday.

 

[ALgymMom]

My daughter was doing back walkovers and didn't kick hard enough on one, had all her weight over her shoulders but not enough momentum, and everything came down on her back hard and she hyper-extended her back. I have taken her to the pedi-chiropractor and there is no injury beyond lumbar hyper-extension. She has been going three days per week for three weeks now and avoiding doing all lumbar extension type moves (walkovers, bridges, backbends). When I gave the coach the doctor's note, she took her off all tumbling except cartwheels, round-offs, and handstands and it is driving my daughter nuts. Even after three weeks of therapy, a bridge will still cause her pain but now she is frustrated and said she would rather work through the pain then be forced to work on nothing but handstands, cartwheels, and round offs. The other downside is my insurance is bucking paying for the chiropractor, even though it is clearly stated in our policy that they pay with a $25 co-pay. We are not rich, not even close, and I fundraise like crazy just so my daughter can be involved in sports. We are in the poor house just from paying the $25 co-pay and can't afford to take her any longer. Any advice on what to do at this point? How long does this type of injury take to heal?

Our Chiro has a kids program...adjustments are only $10 for ages 18 & lower, maybe call around and see if you can find one that has that.

 

[Kiwi]

I would think even doing round offs could be jarring to the back depending on what is wrong with it.

Absolutely right, I once aggravated a back problem doing round-offs.

 

[taylortumbles]

I was going to take her to the Ortho Saturday and we ended up changing it to today. They did another set of x-rays and found a line on one of her lumbar vertebrae. For right now her diagnosis is lumbar sprain and possible stress fracture. She has an MRI June 14th and then we get the results on June 17th. She has to be a couch potato until then. No activity at all. She is devastated.

 

[bogwoppit]

Yeesh. I feel her pain. My dd went through this. Let her know if she can be a couch potato now it may save her years of being a couch potato later. My dd had a year of limited sports, followed by spinal fusion surgery, followed by another year of limited sports. So yes this is hard, but not taking the rest can be way, way worse. Also be thankful you can get MRI's so quickly, we have a long wait in Quebec, it took six months for a diagnosis for my dd.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

follow the Doc's orders on this one.

 

[gymmomtoo]

Poor kid! but following the doctor's orders is essential. You definitely don't want to make this worse!

 

[Trixiebelle]

I'm sorry to hear that. Unfortunately we've been in your shoes 2 times now and DD just returned to the gym a week ago after 9 weeks off. Not just no gym but nothing - no PE, no conditioning, she even switched to a roller bag at school (she did have pt 2x a week but only for 30 min). And I am happy to report that yesterday after 1 week back she is doing giant, free hips and pirouettes again. BHS on beam and fulls on floor. Moral to my story? The rest and healing is crucial and while it seems like they will loose so much, they will be fine.

Hoping your DD enjoys her down time and is pain free.

 

[gym law mom]

Absolutely listen to the MD. Sending good thoughts for a "clean" MRI.

 

[taylortumbles]

Thanks everyone. The two weeks with no activity went so slow. She had her MRI yesterday morning and we see the spine specialist at the ortho institute Monday afternoon for results. The injury happened on May 6th so this would put her 6 weeks total of limited activity and 2 of those weeks no activity. She says nothing has changed really. No pain unless she is stretching (like normal waking up in the morning, not gymnastic stretching) and accidentally arches her back- then it's severe pain. It drives me crazy because she isn't an advanced gymnast and only practices twice per week for 1.5 hrs. It would seem odd for her to have a injury like this at this low level.

 

[BlairBob]

Actually rate of injuries for the recreational athletes are sometimes higher than professional athletes.

 

[taylortumbles]

Well she hardly got any sleep last night because she is so nervous about getting her results today. I'm hoping everything goes well!