my injury
One week before graduating from Ohio University I injured my back during a dance rehearsal for our final Performances. I new the exact moment it happened, during my last big jump something shifted in my back and as we stood for our bows I knew something was very wrong. Shortly afterwards my back began to seize up and the pain began to set in. I was unable to stand up straight and walking was extremely painful. My classmates laid me down flat on the back seat of my car to drive me home; I couldn’t sit up as the pain was so excruciating. The next morning I went to the urgent care where they seemed to dismiss the amount of pain I was in, telling me to take ibuprofen. I had exams to study for, papers to write, and a final college dance performance. The next morning I held myself up on the walls of the dance building hallway on my way to rehearsal as I was reluctant to accept the seriousness of this injury. Seeing me in such distress, my classmates came to my rescue and helped me to the office where my dance professor sent me to the campus clinic and personally called the doctor to take a look at me. They administered two steroid injections, which was enough to get me through my last week of college wearing a back brace.
After graduation I had no choice but to move back home as I was able to move around and walk, but with extreme discomfort. I saw three different doctors before I was given a bone scan which revealed my diagnosis, Spondylolisthesis. A spinal disease that causes one of the bones of the lower vertebrae to slip forward out of normal position. I had four small fractures in both facets of my L4 and L5 vertebrae. Spondylolysis refers to a weakness, a stress fracture, or crack in your facet joint area which commonly occurs before Spondylolisthesis. Your vertebrae are connected and held to each other by ligaments and joints, called facet joints. A stress fracture creates weakness and instability in your back allowing one of your vertebrae to slip forward. It is a common injury for gymnasts. All my years of gymnastics had compromised those lower vertebra, making them unstable, and this particular dance piece was putting my lumbar spine into extreme extension creating more pressure on that area of my spine. There are two types of Spondylolisthesis, degenerative and isthmic. Degenerative Spondylolisthesis happens as we age, effecting those usually over 50 and is more prevalent in women. This usually happens because the disks that cushion the vertebrae lose water and thin over time. Isthmic Spondylolysthesis is due to a bone break, usually in young athletes, this is what I had. There are five different grades of Spondylolysthesis Grade 1 to 5 with 5 being the most extreme. I had Grade 1, with as much pain I was in I couldn’t believe it was only a Grade 1. The doctor suggested I not dance again and just try to live a normal life; that was obviously hard to hear. After graduation I was without health insurance, losing it as I was no longer a student, so I couldn’t do Physical Therapy. Feeling very defeated and scared, not knowing what I was going to do since I just got a degree in dance and I may no longer be able to to dance, I canceled my plans to move to Seattle . I was depressed, tired of wearing the brace and being in pain, so I decided to try to rehab my back myself.
my rehab
In order to rehab from this type of injury, you need to stabilize the spine where the vertebra had slipped, meaning you need a strong core. I thought what better way to do that than with Pilates. My mom lived near a community center with access to a pool. I wasn’t ready to do exercise on a mat yet as I was still in too much pain, so I decided to exercise in the water. Using my Pilates training from college I adapted the pilates exercises to the water. All summer long I was in the water and as I grew stronger, I added in mat Pilates exercises. I continued this training religiously for one year and soon it felt like my core was getting stronger than ever before so I decided to try a dance class. I discovered that not only could I dance, but I felt stronger than before the injury. My dancing had improved with all my core work from Pilates. I continued my Pilates work and eventually danced for several companies in Cleveland before moving to Portland. In Portland I continued to dance and choreograph, performing and touring with some amazing companies, having the best time of my life!
