I recently (end of Aug 2024 ) came off the bike after hitting a pothole and closed fractured my T5. Luckily I was fairly mobile again within a week but obviously the healing will take longer. I’ve been walking about 4-6km a day to keep mobile but now starting to wonder when I can start to get back on the bike indoors only- to start to level(maybe 50-60% FTP) workouts.
What has been other peoples experience and journey coming back form a T5 or 6 closed fracture? **
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Ouch 
I’m sorry to hear you closed fractured your T5.
I broke my C7 traverse on late August as well 2020 going off a jump, which also caused a displacement and hernia on my neck…
Recovery for me was slow. I had a neck brace for 4 months before getting the OK from the doc to start getting active again. (Super important to consult with the doc and what physical therapy they recommend!)
What worked for me was to start by strengthen my back and neck muscles to support my entire spine. Then I did massage therapy once a week to start giving my muscles back some plasticity after essentially not moving all that much and overusing on side of my body to compensate the other.
I’d say I probably hopped back on a bike after 2 months of gym work, but I still felt like my neck was about to break on every bump… then at about a year from injury I felt 100% “normal”.
I think our bodies have an amazing capability of healing, and everyones rate is different. However, I think it’s key to REALLY listen to your body and not push it because it can be counterproductive.
Sounds like your body is healing quick and you’ll get back to “normal” quicker than I did!
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I rugby tackled a car after getting knocked off my bike a few years back, suffering 6 compression fractures to my lower thoracic vertebrae. I joined a gym a short walk from home at the end of the second week into the recovery to use their stationary bike and did as much as I could suffer. Back then I wasn’t used to indoor riding so 20 minutes was a long time at first, but after a week I was doing 30 minutes to an hour on the bike most days. 8 weeks later I was back out on my real bike. I had really good access to physiotherapists who were really encouraging and I think it made a big difference to my recovery.
I snapped my chain in a 1,400w+ sprint in an enduro race in August 2023 and compression fractured my T8 in the resulting OTB.
I took a week or so off, then only did road and light gravel for 4-6 weeks. I was back to riding normally by mid-October – including a 100mi gravel race and 60mi MTB race – with just fairly minor soreness.
I compressed a disk in my lower back, and have had issues with it over the years. I occasionally can’t get it to stay happy and end up doing some physical therapy. Biking seems to be fine, but I do have pain that seems to radiate occasionally. I was told to do yoga to keep it happy, but Cobra pose tends to irritate it. My core is weak as a result, so keep your core strong. Do flexibility as tolerated and advised by your physician.
Hi @bailey2310, I can sympathise as someone who fractured L1 in Sept of 2023.
What has your physician recommended for recovery? I think it’s important to remind oneself that we do this for fun and it isn’t our jobs - there are plenty of riders who have rushed back and ruined themselves long term. Whatever you do, however hard it feels, you want to embrace the break and enjoy life!
My initial recovery was 3-4 months in a back brace - during that time I couldn’t bend my back at all. I kept my toe in with lots of walking and riding for 30 - 60 minutes on the trainer at very low intensity, basically just spinning. To do the trainer I bought an adjustable stem set vertically and flipped a set of bars upside down so I could hold the bottom of the drops as a very high handle bar.
It took 4 months for the bone to heal and get sign off to swim and start physio. I then concentrated on strength work in the gym with a physio 3 times a week for about a month and then just rode at endurance effort over and over on the trainer and outside to get back into riding. On the trainer that was generally “James”, and outside just riding my bike. I didn’t think about intervals or intensity for months. I was able to ramp up the volume to 15-20 hours a week as soon as I was back on the bike, but I attribute that to high quality recovery over a long period and then the gym work. I’ve now added gym work as part of my regular routine and a year later I’m still doing 2-3 sessions a week of gym work - strength, core, mobility etc with a trainer to guide the progress.
I didn’t rush it and a year later I’m back to similar power numbers and performance on the bike, perhaps even stronger from the gym work.
good luck with everything.
in situations like this I start to think about “what CAN I do?” even if it’s not on the bike. can you bicep curl? triceps extension? can you use some leg machines in the gym? (like seated calf press, etc?) I think whatever exercise will be beneficial to your healing just to stay healthy and moving.
dunno how comfy it is to sit on your home trainer but the ones in the gym are like a sofa…might be worth starting there? maybe they have a recumbent one that’s easier so you don’t have to support your spine upright? maybe an elliptical or stepper is easier on you?
I dunno the answers but just that’s where my mind would be going.
I know you want stories for ideas and inspiration…just don’t put yourself on the same timeline as anyone else.
glgl
Is it a stable wedge fracture? How is the pain doing, reduced within days or ongoing?
The pain started to subside straight away day by day. It’s a closed fracture so no brace or anything like that.
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