Question
Dr. Ryan,

I caught a strong wave too close to shore while bodyboarding. The wave drove me straight into the ground--head-first. Fortunately, I had my arms in front of me, so I don't think that I landed on my head. However, I remember at first feeling my back crunch as it was driven straight down. Then the force of the wave bent my back in a C-shape, and I felt another crunch. I was in a bit of pain right away, and my abdominal area also was in pain. For the first few hours afterwards, it hurt to raise my left arm; and my back (especially the lower left back) was tender for the next couple days. It has been about 1 week now, and my back will bother me when I'm sitting or a little hunched over. If I'm busy and walking around, I don't tend to notice any problems.

I was very concerned about the 2 crunches that I felt, and I want to make sure that nothing major went wrong. I thought about going to a specialist, but it seems like I must be OK because I'm able to perform most normal daily activity. I would also like to go golfing, but I've put that off for a week to try to rest my back more.

Can you please offer your insight into what happened, as well as your thoughts on what I should do?

Thanks,
Dan

Answer
First of all, congratulations for not being severely injured.  The crunches that you felt could be vertebra (bones surrounding the spinal cord) in your back and/or your ribs from being forced into a severe position.

If you are not experiencing any problems other than some back soreness after a week, I would think that you haven't had a major injury.  Any trauma like falling or getting slammed onto the beach by a wave will make anybody sore.

I would continue to forego golfing for another week or so.  Try doing some slow stretching like yoga to keep the muscles relaxed in the area that's sore.  If the pain continues, gets worse, or you start having numbness, you'll need to see a physician to find out exactly what happened.

Thank you for your question, Dan.  I hope that my answer was helpful.