Humpty Dumpty
I had a great fall yesterday.
I took the kids on a spur-of-the-moment road trip to see a college football game. At one point during the game the cheerleaders started throwing t-shirts into the crowd. I just had to be a hero and catch one of these for my kids.
And there it came, in a high arc, right toward my waiting hands. Only it was a bit high, so I had to reach way up, then back, back, back... and just past my fingers. But I stopped caring because I was in freefall.
I fell straight backwards, slamming my back onto the empty bench behind me. I'm pretty sure I blacked out for 3/4 of a second, right after I heard a hideous crack from my spine. Next thing I know I've jumped forward back onto my own bench and am now doubled over in pain, thinking I've probably just shattered several vertebrae.
Guess what both my kids were doing? Laughing! They thought it was pretty funny watching Daddy make a fool of himself for a free t-shirt.
The people around us were looking at me like I was an idiot, so I took a deep breath and did what every manly man does. I acted like nothing happened. I sat there for five minutes with teeth clenched tight, sweat on my forehead, watching the action on the field as if I wasn't suffering intense burning pain in the middle of my back.
At halftime we went to get pizza and to let me walk around a little and stretch my back out. Eventually the pain subsided. What's weird is that today my back actually feels better than it has in a long time.
I must've been out of alignment. Maybe I'll go to chiropractor school.
I took the kids on a spur-of-the-moment road trip to see a college football game. At one point during the game the cheerleaders started throwing t-shirts into the crowd. I just had to be a hero and catch one of these for my kids.
And there it came, in a high arc, right toward my waiting hands. Only it was a bit high, so I had to reach way up, then back, back, back... and just past my fingers. But I stopped caring because I was in freefall.
I fell straight backwards, slamming my back onto the empty bench behind me. I'm pretty sure I blacked out for 3/4 of a second, right after I heard a hideous crack from my spine. Next thing I know I've jumped forward back onto my own bench and am now doubled over in pain, thinking I've probably just shattered several vertebrae.
Guess what both my kids were doing? Laughing! They thought it was pretty funny watching Daddy make a fool of himself for a free t-shirt.
The people around us were looking at me like I was an idiot, so I took a deep breath and did what every manly man does. I acted like nothing happened. I sat there for five minutes with teeth clenched tight, sweat on my forehead, watching the action on the field as if I wasn't suffering intense burning pain in the middle of my back.
At halftime we went to get pizza and to let me walk around a little and stretch my back out. Eventually the pain subsided. What's weird is that today my back actually feels better than it has in a long time.
I must've been out of alignment. Maybe I'll go to chiropractor school.
Permalink posted by Phil at 12:07 AM
15 Comments:
Wow. I'd hate to see what you'd do for a free pair of pants.
A triple back-flip and a fractured skull, I'm sure.
No plug for the college???
sorry, but Im well giggling here lmao.....
x
Ah gosh, Phil, you had me really scared reading the first part of that... spine cracking and all... I hope you're alright, long-term. Chiropractors might not appreciate the news that all you really have to do to align your back is to fall backwards onto a bleacher bench. :o)
I read your blog all of the time but this is the first time I really felt I had to comment...
I did something similar a couple of years ago. I was trying to be the "cool dad" at the local speedway and catch a frisbee that a driver was thowing up into the stands. I reached up, felt the wood plank below my feet wobble and fell about twenty rows to the concrete. The problem was I really didn't "fall" but actually lost my balance and ran down the bleacher seats, hitting every row perfectly until I hit the concrete at the bottom. Hard.
Bloody, ripped up hands and a hurt right leg which ended up being a bloodclot behind my knee. 6 months of shots / blood thinners / visits once a week to the doctor my leg finally became normal size.
2 years later, I still have problems with that leg. It's hard to be a good dad and live past 40....
40? I seem to be having a hard time living through the late 30's.
It took a severe back injury for my husband to realize that he had to dial down his famous Chimpanzee Impression to accommodate his thirty-something year old body.
It was several months after that before I was allowed to laugh about it.
It sounds like your nociceptors (pain receptors) shut down after your fall, hence the temporary sensation of feeling better. Chiropractors still have their place and their adjustments are traditionally done only after taking a thorough history, orthopedic and neurological examination, and diagnostic imaging if needed. Simply falling onto a blunt object is not chiropractic.
Simply falling onto a blunt object is not chiropractic.
I know. I was trying to be funny. I have yet to learn that I'm actually not funny most of the time.
Ah, now. I suffered a neck injury when I was 17 (bike accident), and was unable to bend my head back very far, and had to open my jaws to look straight up.
The following summer, in a rowdy pillow fight, someone hit me square in the head, HARD, and it hurt like hell--but suddenly, I had full mobility again.
So pooh-pooh on those naysayers who think you're body's ignoring the pain--you might actually have stretched back into place that which had been warped.
OuCh oUcH ouch!! I hope your ok and stays ok! Nothing to put you out of action like a sore back!
So are you going to throw yourself against a bench every few weeks? I hope all's still well.
Is it not weird how the classic cool overcomes one when they do something idiotic.
Been there, have yet to do that, but it's only a matter of time.
Man, that sounded painful, and yes, I would have done the same thing after the fact- assuming I would fall. I got mad t-shirt catching skills!
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