12-05-2017, 10:10 AM
(12-05-2017, 10:07 AM)wcu Wrote: When Shazier went down last night, I had a pretty good idea of what happened to him almost immediately. That’s because I suffered an almost identical injury while playing rugby in college.
I’m not posting this as a “look at me!” Or “me too” type of thing. I’m putting this here to put some perspective on what happened and to answer any questions people might have about the injury and prognosis.
When I went down, I was knocked out. When I came to, I was lying on my back on the field. It felt like I was floating because I couldn’t feel my body touching the ground. I just knew I was paralyzed. Lots of tests and lots of doctors later, I was diagnosed with a spinal contusion.
The neurologist I was seeing said I could either have surgery to fuse my vertebrae together where the injury occurred, or give up contact sports. Obviously I gave up the sports.
A spinal contusion is actual bruising of the spinal cord. There’s lots of swelling involved inside of the vertebrae. They won’t be able to assess the extent of the injury until some of that swelling has gone down. Either way, he’ll carry the effects of the injury with him the rest of his life. For the most part, nerve cells don’t repair themselves, so any damage is permanent.
In my case, I couldn’t walk for a few days because I couldn’t feel my legs. As the swelling went down, I continued to improve. To this day, my legs are “tingly” feeling. If you touch my legs, to me, it feels like I’m wearing a pair of thick wool socks or sweat pants. I have trouble wearing flip flops because I can’t tell if my feet are actually on the shoe or not. I used to get tangled up in my bed sheets because I couldn’t feel my legs well enough to get untangled.
Now, I’m sure he’s getting medical care that is many times better than what I received. But again, nerve damage is permanent. We’ll probably see him on the field again, but he’ll carry the effects of it with him always.
I've heard mixed reports, but now it sounds like he might not even need surgery. Steelers expect he will be 100% again. Not sure when, but doesn't sound like permanent damage.
