Advice:Skiing after a broken neck

A snowHead

Hello, I have been reading topics on Snowheads for a while and found it very informative. I now find myself in a position of needing some advice as I am sure I am not the first person to face the issues I am about to describe.
I have been skiing for several years and I am getting pretty confident at most things and had several trips planned for this winter. Including one in 10 days time for a family christmas trip. However I was knocked off my bike this week while commuting to work; car v's bike at about 20 MPH. To cut a long story short I have a Unilateral C3/4 facet joint fracture which is being managed conservatively with hard collar immobilistion. Luckily no neurological deficit, just a very very sore neck (and rest of body). My neurosurgeon, who is a colleague and competent skier himself, was pretty upbeat about being able to ski later in the season. i am not sue if he was being truely realistic or just "letting me down gently". Does anyone have any first hand or anecdotal experience of skiing after this type of injury?

A snowHead

Rareperk, I can't give you any advice or information (though others who can will be along in a while) but welcome to SHs anyway, and commiserations on your crash.

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Rareperk, Welcome to Snowheads.

Sorry to hear about the accident - hope you get out on the hill if possible this season.

I haven't had a similar issue myself nor am a medic so I'll leave the useful advise for those types - but I guess if your surgeon is a skier then he's got to have a pretty good idea!

Good Luck

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Rareperk, listen to the experts, it's perfectly possible to resume skiing after a broken neck - a good friend of mine broke his neck when he misjudged the egde of a piste in a whiteout, but was skiing again by the next season. If he hadn;t told me of the accident I'd never have known as it's not slowed his skiing at all. Fingers crossed for you

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Rareperk, in my experience (smashed patella, torn ankle ligaments and a shoulder dislocation) surgeons/doctors/physios will do anything they can to put you off returning to any sport where stress is placed on the body...i never listened anyways and continued, but IMO, if an expert tells you you're good to go, you're good to go.. i wouldn't argue too much about it!.....

okbye

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Rareperk, Welcome to snowHead

I am sure that one of the Beaumont's will be along soon with a few links within this site to ease your mind a little about what 'can' be done after neck injuries even if every case is different.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Rareperk, Welcome to snowheads, at least you are fit to type!

After all it is free

Rareperk, welcome to Snowheads! Sorry to hear of your crash. Don't think you can really do better than listen to the expert. The only time I would contradict that is if the expert knows nothing about the sport and tells you you shouldn't do it. (For example, you find this a lot with GPs and running - got injured by running? Well stop running then! When in reality what is needed is adjustment to technique or equipment).

nbt, snowpatrol, Thanks for your prompt replies everyone.
anarchicsaltire, I am not a neurosurgeon but we do work in the same hospital. You are correct to say that i have been told that will need collar for about 8 weeks then strengthening exercises. I am not only a skier but also keen cyclist with a couple of sportives planned for next year. I have been planning alot of my fitness training around them, one is in june the other in august. So I am not ony keen to ski this year but also get back on a bike!

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Rareperk, Sorry about the accident, it's not a pleasant experience. My husband fractured his C6 in December last year. There's a huge thread on here = http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=46852&start=320. He needed emergency surgery as the fracture was unstable. He wore a collar after the op for about 5 weeks, and had intensive physio which he paid for thro his works BUPA scheme (it would have taken weeks for the NHS appointment according to neurosurgeon in UK). . He skied in April at the SnowHeads end of season bash, but was certainyl not ready for anything more than a gentle bimble about. He still gets quite a lot of neck and shoulder pain, but is otherwise back to normal now. He is a keen mountain biker and squash player too, has had to cut down on the number of squash games he plays in a week, and cycling hurts neck. Get a good physio and you may get back to skiing this winter, I hope so.

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anarchicsaltire, I think they removed part of my hubby's brain when they fixed his neck. Or is all the metal messing up the brainwaves?

Helen Beaumont, Laughing

You know it makes sense.

anarchicsaltire, You may be right about needing to see shrink, but i will not allow the actions of one careless driver to dictate how I lead the rest of my life! The driver's insurance company phoned me the next day admitting liability and offering cash for bike, clothes and helmet etc. But suddenly went very quiet when they realised the extent of my injury.
Will attempt to up-load a couple of images which may be of interest.

Helen Beaumont, My wife accepted this was the case when we got married quite a few years ago. Have successfully managed to hide it from GMC so far!

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

anarchicsaltire, hmm, you may have a point there.

A snowHead

Rareperk, hubby has managed to hide it from our own professional body too.

A snowHead

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Helen Beaumont, I think I must have missed the thread about your husband's injury; I will take a look. It worries me that he finds mountain biking causes discomfort as one of the rides I mentioned earlier is a mountain bike race in the alps.

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Rareperk, he still does it, but it was the last activity he started to do again, and the one which has caused him most discomfort. I suppose it is the rough terrain, and the fixed position over the handlebars. I'll get him to post, and tell you all about it.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

I'd leave it at least 2 days after breaking your neck before skiing again

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Sorry to hear about your accident. I used to cycle to work all the time. The main reason I stopped was because of the heavy traffic and the fact that I was the silly sod who broke his neck last New Year.
The neurosurgical dept. at Newcastle were very non-commital about what I could or couldn't do, so I found out for myself.
Intense physio seemed to help a lot. This was probably for all the associated musclular problems caused. I also started going to Pilates and Yoga at quite an early stage of recuperation. This made the instructors very nervous. It was very girly and I stopped once I could get back on a squash court, but I think I should go again. I still get neck and shoulder problems (hence posts at 4am) and I miss the licra.
I went back to work far too early. I was bored and thought I was mended. Unfortunately at work I couldn't go and lie down for half an hour with a heat pad on my neck. It felt like when the Americans torture prisoners by forcing them into stress positions for hours on end, or so I imagined. I must have been such a happy bunny to work with.
In April a CT scan showed things were fusing as they should so I went skiing, after a fashion. Becoming airborn at all was not an option; crowded pistes were a worry; lack of fitness and injury made me look and feel like a beginner; Genepi and good company helped a lot.
About that time I started to try other things again. I had already attempted swimming, which has been the last activity to be manageable. It was ok if I kept my head down, but that made breathing tricky.
Similarly with cycling. I started properly again with this around June or July. I took my bike to France in the summer and it wasn't too bad, but again I took it easy, fitness is lost very quickly. I managed a few climbs up the Col but only to the higher villages, then a fast single track descent.Uphill I can keep my head down. Downhill is not so uncomfortable now. I moved some spacers and raised the handlebars. I still avoid jumps.
I'm practically better now. I am not getting out on the bike enough, if I play four games of squash on the trot I suffer, and I am sometimes up early. On the upside I have read a lot of books this year, learnt how to do Yoga and am going skiing again next week Smile

I hope things go as well for you. Be positive and get the best treatment, though by the sound of you, you already are and will. Good luck.

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JulesB, Thanks for taking the time to reply, your story and some of the others are just what I was looking for when I decided to post. It seems I slept better than you last night, which kind of worries me a year on. I suppose the voltarol I got up and took at 2.30 helped. The most bizarre things happen when you want a good nights sleep, for the first time I can remember we had a wrong number phone us in the middle of the night too.
The advice about pilates and yoga is interesting, I was thinking of suspending my gym membership until I am out of neck collar but it sounds like you went along with your collar on. By the way which hard collar did you find the most comfortable? I still have the ambulance's extraction collar on but I am trying to get hold of a more comfortable one either Aspen or Miami J.
It also sounds like I may have to be a little more realistic about cycling next year. The sportive I was training for is the Paris-Roubaix which is qiute long but very bumpy. It sounds like I should take up squash though as both you and Helen Beaumont, 's hubby are back to that pretty quickly!
Thanks again.

After all it is free

Rareperk,

Rareperk,
Nothing to add about the neck, except for best wishes.

I was just wondering which Alpine MTB race you'd got planned? I did the Megavalanche a couple of years ago (and will do it again next year if I'm successful in persuading a couple of mates to share the trip). It's an absolute hoot!

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Hurtle, Ok may be that lets me off taking up squash if it's just one person! Sorry guys no offence.

Higs, The Grand Raid Crystalp: Verbier to Grimentz. Someone at work did mention doing the Megavalanche. He's done it before and said it was carnage at the top on the Glacier!?

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Carnage would be a good word for it. There was quite a lot of snow the year I did it in 2007. You get a good idea from this video:
http://youtube.com/v/L51D8oI_1mE

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julesb didn't exercise in a collar, he did wait until he was able to take it off. He started the yoga classes about 6 weeks after the accident. Probably becasue he had the surgery, he was able to take the collar off more quickly. It wasn't a rigid one like you are wearing, just a firm foam one. Advice as to how long he kept it on varied. In Grenoble hospital, people requiring rigid collars for their injuries had them specially made before they left hospital.

Rareperk, I managed to break two vertebrae (L1 &L2) in a motorbike accident a few years ago. Luckily nice and stable, but has left my back in a bit of a state - functional, but easily hurt, and quite often in a sort of general pain around my lower back. But I find that exercise has kept it loose and strong (even if at the risk of hurting it if things go wrong). So walking (running's no longer an option really) is good, a bit of (pretty gentle) MTB, and snowboarding all feature heavily. And riding a motorbike is still a big part of my life. It has, however, taken a number of years gradually working out what my body will now put up with...

It's obviously a very different injury to C3/4, but if it was a decent fracture that they're happy to treat just with immobilisation, and your neuro reckon's there should be no specific risk through skiing, I'd say go for it. But be sensible - if scans are showing that it's healing slowly for any reason take the sensible choice and call off skiiing this season... There's always next year

Good luck, and get well soon!
Tapstick

You know it makes sense.

Rareperk, because the Grenoble surgeons screwed a plate between C5 and C6 I don't think the collar was so much of an issue as it is with you. In Grenoble I was told I would keep the soft collar on for up to 12 weeks (I think. The conversation was mostly in French). Newcastle said I could take it off if I felt like it. So I did.
Don't rule anything out at this stage. If you do not have to make an immediate decision about your cycling then delay. Some days I had serious doubts about attending the skiing ESOB (to be fair I had no doubts at all it was Helen Beaumont, {wife} who didn't think I could manage. I knew I could get through with what I call my dogged determinism and everyone else would call stupidity}, but other times I felt up for it.
Maybe you have to be more careful? My neck scaffolding is internal. Your support is external. You probably know more about this than I do. I relied heavily on advice from my brilliant physio, although I didn't always follow it. He kept saying that I was overdoing things, would probably recover more quickly, but suffer in the process.
He told me that impact sports were the last things I would be able to do ie squash and mountain biking. I started sneaking on a squash court in May (5 months post trauma) just to have a warm up and see what hurt. First proper bike ride off road with steep muddy bits, was 6 months after. A 3 hour ride over rough terrain, about 30 miles. I thouroughly enjoyed myself but was not very comfortable, and had to lie down after partly to rest my neck, and partly because I was knackered. However I did go over the handlebars on a downhill through the woods. Scaffolding held.
I know your planned bike ride is much more of a challenge, but if gives you something to aim for.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Rareperk, I have just watched the video as sent by Higs, all I can say is you must be madder than most of us on snowHeads Laughing

By the way, I ski with bits of broken bone (motor bike accident) still moving about in my leg, and my son skis with fractures to L1 and L2 and T3 (ski lift accident).

Are we all mad, or do we just don't know when to give up? Puzzled

A snowHead

A snowHead

I think you'd have to be mad to give up.

(and it's a gorgeous day here and I've got a lovely road bike sat in the hall just asking to be spanked all over the Peak District so I'm off)

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bev bish, Yes it looks like quite good fun! Higs, You are in big trouble with my wife! She just said "No way." Mind you first set of cobbles on the Paris-Roubaix were like an ice rink when i went over them last year they are essentially a farm track and covered in cow s**t. A couple of dozen roadies hitting it at 30+ kph is pretty hairy. Think I went down after about 300m. How was the cycling today? Brickworks/Windgather/Cat and Fiddle? Sounds perfect. You may have seen a few of my mates. Anyway Sale are playing Harlequins and second half has just started. What a game!

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Higs, That is a very steep descent!
Helmets and cycling is a bit of a mine field, I guess rather like helmets and skiing. I was wearing one last week and I am utterly convinced it saved my life. It has five cracks through the styrene all concentrated over the left occiput. It was only 4 months old and although I can get a half price exchange new one I have decided to keep it. If anyone doubts their value one look at it should convince even the hardened cynic.
Sale won! Brilliant game.

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JulesB, Hi again. I've had a bit of spare time on my hands today. Everyone at home went to work or school so I was on my own for the first time since accident. I read the whole thread about your accident last year. It does sound as though the injuries are quite different in some respects but very simlar in others. My injury is typical of a compression/rotational force apparently which fits with the damage to my bike helmet. A guy on a bike behind me describes it well; me being thrown into the air and landing on my head and left shoulder. I remember going across the car's bonnet but little else until I got up, a mistake with the benefit of hindsight. I suspect this also explains why my injury was higher at C3/C4 than yours at C5/C6.
The progress you made back to fitness is encouraging especially running the GNR. You said you managed to ski a little at the end of the season I'd be interested to know how it goes this season, whether you can pick it up back to where you were before your accident.
We are not sure whether to cancel our Christmas trip, obviously i will be staying indoors all the time but the rest of my family can ski. I suppose there will be some issues with travel insurance for me!

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Rareperk, will you actually be allowed to fly? Travelling in a car was very uncomfortable for jules for several weeks afterwards too.

After all it is free

Helen Beaumont, Apparently yes according to neurosugeon but then again he could have been spinning me a yarn. I asked him directly about it and he replied "oh don't worry I'll write a letter to say it's perfectly safe". But who knows what will happen when I turn up at the gate with collar on.

Rareperk, julesb flew home (business class) but obviously that was a medical repatriation. I don't suppose the hospital would have allowed him to fly if it wasn't safe to do so. I don't think it was a comfortable experience, but the copious amounts of free drink he was given certainly helped. God knows how he would have coped with a delayed charter flight in a cramped plane.

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Its strange how one so called "high risk" sport leads to another. We, Chris (hubby) and myself, have both done motor bikes, skiing, scuba diving, sailing etc and have now just rediscovered cycling again.

Statistically we are far more likely to get wiped out/badly hurt on a push bike than on the piste or anywhere else.

Higs, I am glad to hear that your cycle helmet worked for you - it reassures me slightly. I have "tested" my motorcycle helmet and horse riding hard hat several times, but the last time we cycled, helmets were not considered necessary.

Rather like ski helmets..........but I don't want to start that debate again. wink

Help!!

Advice:Skiing after a broken neck

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