When it comes to my life, I have nothing to complain about. But I do have some issues that effect my everyday life. And the biggest one is my back injury.
I was pretty active my whole childhood. I did competitive gymnastics for six years, competitive spring board diving for three years, and then competitive dance for about four years. So I was a pretty lucky kid.
Of course the number one thing parents think about when want their kids to be healthy is putting them in sports. Yes, all in all sports in a wonderful thing, but if you're not careful it can cause injury. Yes, I know it's pretty much common sense, but when it's a life time injury like mine you start to doubt how safe you were.
I have a ruptured spinal disc. I don't know exactly what caused it, but it started hurting when I was about 11 or 12. It was defiantly something I did while gymnastics training. This is an injury you accumulate over time. It's extremely invasive and painful. Because of the location my back is injured, it cannot heal. That part of the spinal cord has no blood flow. With out blood flow, it cannot heal. I'm 23 and I've thrown my back out three times in which I had to go to the E.R. The only way I could fix my back is through surgery where they replace the damaged disc with a prosthetic one. And this isn't always guaranteed to work. I have constant pain. This is just a small price I have to pay for a sport I love so much.
I'm not writing this for anyone to feel badly or sorry for me, I'm writing it in hopes to open up at least one person's eyes. If you put your child, or your self into sports, be careful and take care of your body. Stretch, do everything properly, and eat right. This is the only body you'll ever have. Don't get injured because of poor judgment or training. If you're out with your friends and you want to show off and do a back flip but you've never done it before, DON'T! It's not worth being paralyzed. That goes for anything you've never done before and that can be dangerous. If you want to try stupid stuff, go to a gymnastics club. Most clubs have open gym where you can pay to come in for an hour or so and play around with professional supervision. But if you want to try something and they say no, listen to them. They know what they're talking about. And they obviously don't think you're capable of do what ever it is you want to do. Don't get angry or offended, thank them! They're doing it to keep you safe!
You're body is the most fragile and precious thing you have. Treat it that way!
Other places you can find me:
http://pinterest.com/missspinedecay/
http://missspine.tumblr.com/
https://www.facebook.com/missspine
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