Ever wonder how a fusion surgery is performed? This should explain….

About two years ago I fell at the T-1 ramp and hurt my back pretty bad. I fell backwards and landed on the transition going fast and twisted my back harshly. I ruptured a disk in my lower back. I had a long 3 or 4 months of rehabbing and pain pills before I could ride again. Eventually I was fine again though and that was cool. I went to 3 different doctors and they all had completely different diagnosis. One said I needed surgery for sure, another one said don’t ever get surgery it will make it worse and another one sent me to a physical therapist who actually helped me. 

It turns out that my core muscles were way out of whack. My back muscles and quads were way stronger then my abs. That’s pretty common for all of us BMXers. We are always pushing down on our pedals (building quads) and always bent over not engaging our abs but using our lower back muscles a lot. The overly tight hamstrings, weaker abs and stronger lower back can really tweak out your spinal cord leading to pinched nerves and all sorts of problems. In the end the key for me getting back on my bike was just spending a bit of time each day doing some core exercises (mostly ab stuff) and helping to stabilize my back. The disk is still screwed up though and from time to time it gets inflamed and knocks me out for a bit. I had a month earlier this summer where I was not able to ride, and the last 3 days I’ve been pulled over as well. Rode for a bit today but I know I have to be very cautious coming back and at the first sign of getting sore I called it a day. 

Be back on it soon I hope. That’s a pun.