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WATERSKI MagazineQ: Last summer I took an unusual, but not terribly hard, barefoot fall and was left paralyzed from the neck down for a few minutes. I am 38 years old and have been skiing for 30 years with no other injuries other than some minor torn cartilage in my right knee.
I read with great interest a letter from another WaterSki reader, Adam Bryant, who suffered a similar accident. Your advice was to have a series of specific medical tests to check for a number of possible problems before returning to full activity. Since our accidents and symptoms were similar, I showed my doctor the article. He agreed that an MRI (as was recommended for Adam) was needed. It revealed that I have a herniated disc between T1 and T2, which extends to the right of midline against the spinal cord. I do not need surgery at this time, but I was advised that I am now at greater risk of serious injury if I were to suffer a fall such as this in the future. It is recommended that I should avoid the riskier activities involved with my water skiing. I rarely fall during recreational, open-water slalom, but when I attempt the slalom course, I can take some nasty spills. Do you think I should be avoiding the course? I am having a tough time deciding what my activity level should be.
Neal H. Hanson
Mound, Minnesota
A: I wish I could offer a miracle answer to your question, but the advice you have received from your neurologist is good advice. When a herniation encroaches upon the spinal cord, the risk of permanent damage with another fall increases greatly. Before you enter any physical sport, you should rehabilitate your injury and strengthen the surrounding structures. Since cervical spine injuries are high with barefooting, this may be one area of skiing you may want to stop. If you insist on footing and after you have rehabilitated your spine and received a release from your physician, I would advise footing off a barefoot boom to decrease some of the impact of your falls. You should also wear an athletic cervical collar like football players wear. In fact, many water ski companies make vests with such neck protection. This will help prevent hyperextension and reduce some of the risk. – Terry Weyman, D.C., is sponsored by PowerBar, Oakley sunglasses and Valeo belts.
