Spinal Fracture after a significant horse riding accident.

Patient:

This case is about a 16 year old young woman presenting to Physiotherapy after a significant horse riding accident where her cervical and thoracic spine were fractured, being placed in a neck and spinal brace for 12 weeks.

History/Reason for coming to Physiotherapy:

Patient presented to us after being out of her spinal brace for 3 months. She was not feeling strong or confident on her horse, and was concerned about potentially damaging her spine after such a significant injury.

Goals:

Her short term goals involved reducing pain and discomfort and regaining strength to optimise her riding and other daily activities. She wanted to feel confident in the saddle and be able to go through the school day without feeling discomfort and headaches.

Management:

After a thorough assessment of the patient, management began after discussing her case with her Doctor at the children’s hospital.

Her physiotherapy management included gentle massage and mobilisations through her cervical and thoracic spine, as well as a home exercise program to address her physical injuries. We had high hopes with a full recovery with this patient being young, strong prior to the accident, and highly motivated to get back in the saddle; however with such a significant injury, we knew it would take a few months to regain strength and confidence.

Outcome:

This lovely young woman underwent 4 months of Physiotherapy rehabilitation. She now has full range of motion through her thoracic and cervical spine, and only gets headaches very occasionally (usually when she is having to sit and study for hours on end and forgets to have a break!)

She is currently performing a progressive home strengthening program which we will continue to update once a month to ensure progressive strength.

Her road to recovery was challenging as she experienced many ups and downs in her pain levels as she began returning to activities. Some weeks she felt she had made little progress and other weeks she made large improvements. A lot of her rehabilitation involved educating her to listen to her body and pace herself throughout the day. She stated the biggest lessons she learnt from her injury was the importance of listening to her body and accepting that rehab has its ups and downs, but she got there in the end! The biggest heartfelt statement I heard from this patient was that she felt her injury ended up being an important part of her life, and she feels that it’s lucky she has learned the importance of staying strong and mobile while she is young…. As we say… prevention is better than a cure!

Great job to you, Amelia <3