L1 Compression Fracture Recovery, anxiety and different medical systems
I am a 19M Semi-Professional Skier, who 4 months ago suffered a Conservative Compression Fracture of my L1 (was never told of how much height loss).
For context I was training in Austria when a botched backflip led to the break. I was escorted to the hospital nearby where they did a CT, and an X ray, where the above diagnosis was found. No mention of my discs remarkabley. I was told, no bracing, 3 months no sport, no lifting but was told water therapy at 2 weeks and regular pt 6 weeks, i later flew to France where i spend winter to do the remainder of my recovery where I was told a vastly different story.
In France I got a few more x rays, which despite no negative developments they told me to wear a brace 24/7 for 6 weeks then 12 hours for 6 weeks after and pushing return to sport back to 24 weeks. With little to know explanation. Once discussing with my Coach and PT they said that medical advice was harmful and i should seek a second opinion.
I then called my doctor back home (australian) who through working with my PT and through my scans decided i could return to sport at 7 weeks (tame skiing) but no lifting heavy objects still till 12 weeks. The following weeks i merely only had aches and I was skiing every day.
Then at 12 weeks i started lifting again mostly focusing on solely back rehab and not skiing strength (cleared for in a few weeks)
When i am mostly active my back feels remarkably fine (skiing hard and doing jumps doesnt hurt anymore), but there is still lingering pain mostly aches. It has now been 4 months since the date of the break and I did lift something heavy without proper form which likely re-irritated it causing some more severe aches, but even despite that I do have aches about 50% of the time. (ski season is over and I am about 2 weeks off snow at this point)
I am very aware how lucky I got with the severity but of course there is still of course a lingering worry of is this pain that just lingers permanent or how long will i live with it for. I have recovered very quickly from this I am aware I would just like to get a scope on how long this irritated but not injured stage is likely to last in others personal experience as it is definitlety impacting my ability to perform and my mental health. I am very used to being in pain but knowing that it will subside has always got me through it, unfortunately with the nature of back injuries I just don't know and would love to hear your guys perspective on this.