Question
I am a rower and during practice I suffered an injury 2 weeks ago where I have a compression wedge fracture in my T9 and T11 vertebrae.  They said that they were stable and mild to moderate fractures. I have not seen a spine specialist yet I was wondering if I would be able to row again. I am in very little to no pain, I have a lit pain when I try to turn my upper body and when I try to get up from lying down but other than that I have no pain.  Do you think that this injury will sideline me long?

Answer
Absolutely not. Compression fractures of the vertebrae should heal without any complications in most cases so you shouldn't be sidelined for too long. You may want to consider getting a bone density (DEXA) scan since you may have some osteopenia or osteoporosis. In normal otherwise healthy individuals, compression fractures of the vertebrae usually occur with trauma, so if you had no acute injuries that caused them you may have some underlying bone density issues. Supplementing with calcium and vitamin D along with doing some additional resistance exercises with weight can help increase bone density mass.