Rerider Falls Off & "Breaks Butt" - Needs Advice

[matryoshka]

I think core strength is lacking in a lot of re-riders, especially if you've had kids in the interim. Pregnancy is hell on our abs and back muscles. Finding ways to increase your core strength will help you all around. Considering your injuries, I'd want professional advice before choosing which exercises to do--you don't want to strain soft tissue that is trying to heal.

[stryder]

I think core strength is lacking in a lot of re-riders, especially if you've had kids in the interim. Pregnancy is hell on our abs and back muscles. Finding ways to increase your core strength will help you all around. Considering your injuries, I'd want professional advice before choosing which exercises to do--you don't want to strain soft tissue that is trying to heal.

Agreed. Where's Medical Mike when we need him?

[HorsesinHaiti]

Anyway, I have a small fracture in my sacrum, a "bone bruise" to the tailbone, a torn groin muscle and pulled ligaments that have something to do with the sacrum.

I am still in pain esp when walking, sitting, lying down. Pretty much all the time. My doctor claims that she has done all that she can and just prescribed more Vicodin. I'm trying to get on with my life and get back to work (sitting 8 hours is KILLING me).

Wow. When I bruised my butt bone last December, it helped me to use a computer chair instead of a regular chair. The kind that you kneel in instead of sitting flat. It was easier to lean forward and get the weight off the back. With all your other tears and pulls, it probably wouldn't help you though. you do need to use some core muscles for balance.

[boringjen]

Not sure if a donut pillow would be best for a sacrum injury. My coccyx is almost completely backwards (they can't tell if it's broken or just deformed, and I can't pinpoint any specific injury), and a donut pillow would be torture. Donut pillows are designed to remove pressure from an area farther under your body. Your butt still sits on the back side of the pillow. Try a coccyx cushion instead. There are cheaper ones, and I don't have this one, but it looks pretty comfy.

[pony89]

Not sure if a donut pillow would be best for a sacrum injury. My coccyx is almost completely backwards (they can't tell if it's broken or just deformed, and I can't pinpoint any specific injury), and a donut pillow would be torture. Donut pillows are designed to remove pressure from an area farther under your body. Your butt still sits on the back side of the pillow. Try a coccyx cushion instead. There are cheaper ones, and I don't have this one, but it looks pretty comfy.

I used a travel neck pillow, backwards, for my tailbone/sacrum injury. That thing looks way more comfortable, but desperate times call for desperate measures!!

[Twisting]

I found ice packs and regular stretching through out the day to be the best bet when I injured my back. Regular, gentle, stretches can help keep you from getting stiff, and make sure you take breaks in that 8 hours of sitting. You shouldn't be sitting that long without breaks even when you're healthy.

As for ice packs, I had great success with a tea towel wetted down to just under dripping wet. Fold it a few times and place it in a zip lock baggie, (you can use two bags, sometimes just one can leak.) Toss it in the freezer for 30 min and it comes out nice and cold but still flexible enough to conform to your body. It will stay plenty cold for the 15 min you should use it.

[kcmel]

If all you can find is the doughnut, inflate it just a little and fold it in half. Sit on it with the open end towards the back. This works pretty well; I recently bruised my coccyx and used this to endure my 1 hr each way daily train commute. It was torture without it!

[quietann]

I had a very similar injury, except without the tailbone involvement, from basically the same cause, nearly 2 years ago. I was 43 at the time. I limped along for a few weeks, in quite a bit of pain and not getting any better, and then *finally* saw my doctor, who took Xrays and said "oh my!" He referred me to PT and I was started on PT in a small, warm pool. It was *wonderfully* helpful. After 5 weeks of that, 3 times per week, I went to regular PT for about another month.

ICE ICE ICE is good, especially after a "heating" exercise like pool therapy.

I rode a little bit throughout the entire process, many times just getting on and walking around for 10 minutes or so. Did my first post-accident jump about 3 1/2 months after it happened.

I do have to be careful about saddles; many dressage saddles are *very* uncomfortable because my hip just does not stay under my body on that side. I compromised with a saddle that puts my leg a little bit too forward, but is so comfortable I can ride in it for hours.

[saultgirl]

I injured my tailbone when I fell while snowboarding, when I was 14. It hurt like hell but I figured there was nothing the doctor could probably do for a broken tail bone, anyways. It hurt when sitting, when standing, when lieing down, but the WORST was just getting up from a chair. I don't know, that just killed me.

Anyways, it hurt intensly for months (I brought a pillow to classes to sit on) and even for the next few years, I sometimes had pain there.

I'm 27 now and haven't had any pain for a long time, so I figure its all better by now (finally!)

[kpony]

Yes - Ice and Donut Pillow! I didn't hurt the groin muscles, but ripped something between the sacrum and the seatbone. Constant ice and moving around as much as possible the first few days, about 6 weeks with the pillow. Rode steady eddies about 2 weeks after my injury, with terrible position and needed help mounting. Recommend waiting a little longer. For several months afterwards there would be little twinges of pain after a really working ride. After that, forgot it ever happened!

[twoposies]

Chiropractor - I would second the advice of a second opinion. I've had my share of back injuries, and even non back injuries that are helped with chiropractor work. It sounds like you must have twisted when falling and being the lower region of your body and impacting ligaments you could have also pinched a nerve or ligament, which a chiro can help with. I pulled a lower ligament (sacriliac sp?) in my back and pinched my sciatic nerve doing dead lifts at the gym a few years ago - went to the chiro - worked wonders. I couldn't stay at work for more than 1/2 day b/c my leg would go to sleep. For at least a year I was semi-incapacitated and I do all my horse stuff alone so it was tough. Even now when doing any heavy lifting, as in pushing round bales accross fields, I can feel a twinge and worry I might re - injure - that was a painful experience!

[ProzacPuppy]

pony89 - Bought that pillow yesterday from med supply store and it is really great. Also bought a donut pillow which puts too much pressure on the back of the upper thigh which then seems to pull all the ligaments and muscles into pain. Only problem with the big one is that it isn't really portable without getting strange looks from people.

Also bought a good sized heavy duty ice pack (something like 12x12).

I will be the first to admit that my core muscles are practically non-existant. Many years of too much work and no exercise. Had just started a regimen to strengthen core.

Pre-fall I already had ruptured and herniated disks in the neck and lower back. Amazingly they came through with no problems at all. Just the butt. And I landed hip down not flat on my tailbone.

I can't imagine getting back on my horse right now, even to just walk around. I can barely sit in a regular chair.

I really do want to get back to riding though. I was getting to the point where I almost felt comfortable with a very slow "teeny tiny" jumper round at a local show. Back to the start I guess.

On a side note - it is amazing how some horses seem so guilty or upset that you fell off. My mare seemed quite shaken. My older TB gelding would have horse laughed his way over to the arena gate.

[JohnDeere]

Cant help with what to do but it takes more than 6 weeks. Sorry!

A fellow riders horse slipped & fell landing on the leg/pelvis of his rider. Broken tailbone the whole bit. Dunno what she did after but 5 months later has to mount from platoform. Ouch.

[pony89]

Don't rush the riding. It puts a lot more pressure on the tailbone than sitting in a chair. The first time I thought I felt good enough to ride, I got on, sat down, and got off immediately It will eventually be fine, but give yourself permission to start slow!

[ESG]

Do not even THINK about riding yet!

Anytime you have an injury in a place that can't be immobilized, quadruple the healing time you think is appropriate, and then double that. Think about how much longer it took to recover from the hyster than the loco medicos said it would. At least, that's what happened to me.

And whenever you've injured any part of your spine in any way, the doctors pretty much mouth platitudes about how you'll be better, but might want to think about slowing down and giving yourself a chance to heal "for now". Translation - they don't have a clue as to how long it's really going to take you to heal, and are covering their hindparts. After my accident in March, my orthopedic surgeon insisted that I'd start feeling better "any day now". Mind you, he was the one who missed the fact that I had a concussion (fairly severe one, too ), so naturally I wasn't inclined to put a lot of trust in his judgement.

In the meantime - rest, gentle stretching, anti-inflammatory drugs (Aleve works best for soft tissue, for me), and ice until you think your hindparts are frostbitten. It does make a huge difference. 20 minutes on, one hour off, is the formula my chiro gave me, and it works. There's also a topical gel product called BioFreeze, that gives me huge relief with my chronic sciatica. Ask your doctors about it. It's expensive, but a little goes a long way and a bottle of it lasts roughly forever.

Other than that, rest is the only thing that will heal. Tincture of time, and all that.

Sorry you're going through this. Tell that crazy TB of yours that I still love him.

[jeano]

55 yr old RN rererider with much history of tailbone woes raises hand...

Broke mine the first time age 20, fell on it again a few weeks later, and have been able to predict the weather with it ever since. An exercise ball could be your friend--borrow one before you buy, or try one out in an exercise/yoga/pilates studio, then get a real good one, because you might well end up preferring it to a chair for a long, long time. And, there is the added benefit of helping exercise those core muscles and improve balance.

I landed hard on my sciatic nerve when a horse spooked out from under me due to a rattlesnake on the trail (wished for a while I'd just landed on the damn snake, my a** hurt so bad.) There have been a few other spectacular falls since my latest return to riding in my fifties. As someone on the board has noted before, we used to bounce but now we splat.

The balance thing should resolve in time if you work on it. You want to do that anyway even if you never get back on a horse, because balance problems is a leading cause of falls in the elderly and falls lead to fractures, disability, and death. Yoga helps, especially many of the standing postures.

When you do get back on a horse DO use a mounting block (so much easier to eeeease down into the saddle) and remember, you'll always have two-point...

[wateryglen]

RN weighs in too!

Yup most of this info is dead on! Been there, done this! It's a PAIN IN THE BUTT!!! for several months it'll be sore but progress how you're body tells you. If it hurts, don't do it until you are healed. Pain will gradually subside but you'll have soreness after exercise for awhile. And yes I could predict rain for about 3 years after....6-8 hrs before I would feel a throbbing in my butt until the front or storms past. It's a hoot!!!

I had an office job at the time and had a mattress on the floor over in the corner and I'd lay down on my tummy to do my reading. Eased the butt time pain. Stood for many meetings.

Don't be in a hurry to ride and it'll make you sore when you first start back. Ditto on the mounting block for getting on & off. Just walk at first for long periods. Trot/canter in 2 point as indeed 2 point is your friend!
I broke mine in Oct foxhunting and was hunting again by feb/march. Not jumping tho'!!!

[Flipper]

Ditto the cranial-sacral route. Just want to add - be careful about stretching. Some areas (like the groin & other muscles) are good to stretch after such an injury. Other areas (like the ligaments that connect the SI area to the back & pelvis - ie, the ilio-lumbar ligaments) need to NOT be stretched. They got super-stretched by the trauma & need to regain their tensile strength instead. Which is where the core- strengthening exersizes (pelvic 'bridging' excersizes, which a CS or PT person would show you) come in.
After my fall onto my hip (nothing broken, thank God!) @ 6 yrs ago, I had discomfort & mis-alignment for @ 3 years (following regular PT sessions) before I went to a PT guy who had a different approach & told me "Don't stretch! You need to strengthen!" & after @3 months, I felt the best I've felt in years!
Be patient - these things do take timeI

[medical mike]

a fracture is a fracture........

compounded with what sounds like an SI joint sprain and who knows what to the hip joint...........
That osteoporosis...........
hmmmmmmmmmmm, has a bone bruise to the head of the femur been ruled out?
You are looking at another 4-8 weeks minimum for fracture to set up and soft tissue to settle down....of course that means "being good".

Negative on the chiro at this point...IMO still in the acute soft tissue irritation stage.

That said, if you have "a weak core" you will have to wait until the groin settles down in order to get at hip strengthening part.
YOu can however start with the abdominal muscle strengthening exercises.
Simple bracing and hollowing within what your posture allows.

If you can at all afford it or convince your physician of it, a consultation with a rehab professional and probably several sessions of rehab are certainly indicated.

Best of Luck,
Medical Mike
equestrian medical researcher
www.equicision.com

[matryoshka]

Great website. Anything specific to the injuries we trimmers (farriers, too) sustain? Still looking through the site. Have to turn computer over to the kids. We take turns.