13 Spondylothesis

Spondylolisthesis

My back problem started when I was fifteen when it began hurting after football tackling practice. Pain was going down my legs. X rays showed that my lower three vertebra had not formed properly and the nobs on top of each of them were absent and nothing was coordinating the extended spinal movement except for muscles and ligaments. Muscles and ligaments had been compensating and I never noticed anything until the muscles became stressed from the vigorous tackling activity. They called it Spondylolisthesis.  (Wikipedia describes it as a bony prominence anterior to the sacrum that obstructs the vagina!) 

                 My curvature of my spine.

The orthopedic surgeon in Denver told me initially to stop all sports and wait and see how things developed. I was devastated but kept playing sports anyway with no more pain as I learned how to compensate for and avoid the kind of stress that would cause it. Then the Doc recommended a surgical spinal fusion once I got over my need to do sports. We agreed to do that right after I graduated from high school.

The operation happened; I was in bed all summer before going off to college. Mike was my African American roommate in the Denver Children’s Hospital who was there for some other malady. The banter between us kept life enjoyable and even entertained the nurses. Mike was not bed ridden and did not need any special arrangements to relieve himself like I did. He became intrigued with urinating into a measured urinal like I was using. He began practicing and once, after waiting all day, he called across the room, “Hey Rick, I filled it up to thirty-two!” I did know we were competing, but I had to concede when my laughter began to kill my back.

I was supposed to wear a back brace and not do sports for a year. I wore the back brace and made the freshman basketball team at Oberlin anyway. The coach checked with my doctor and then dropped me from the team after I had played two minutes into the first game. The only thing I can claim from that was the one shot I took went in the basket, leaving me with a 100% field goal record!

Things healed well and I never noticed any pain again except as I have aged the pain has returned when I do any repetitive action like standing or walking slow for more than a couple of minutes. That includes anything where I remain in one position for a length of time like sitting and lying down. Fast walking alleviates that pain when it does occur. My back feels strong now, but I avoid lifting anything over thirty pounds which may be because of age rather than the operation. My physical therapist calls the condition sciatica has given me some exercises to strengthen the muscles of my back.

The back operation fortunately disqualified me from serving in the Viet Nam war, but did not keep me from joining the Peace Corps.