Better to try and avoid getting a damaged back than trying to get it fixed!
At 15, I got the chance to go horse riding with a mate who had a couple of horses, I`d never been on a horse but me being me, I couldn`t let the chance go by! Horse let me get on ( Yeah! had a saddle and bridle ) and almost instantly, it took off at full gallop, no amount of pulling back on the bridle could stop it, it threw me high into the air and I landed, upside down on my neck and shoulders! I got up, dusted myself and that was that! To this day I`m still amazed that I din`t get a broken neck or killed.
At 18, I reckoned motorbikes were easier to control than horses so I took up motorbike racing on short circuit dirt and grass track! This day I was practicing on grass, I got a bad front wheel wobble and the bike threw into the air, this time I came down, upside down, on my head and cracked the Helmet, again, I got up, picked the bike up and kept going! Who knows what long-term damage was done but it didn`t stop me from racing... Believe me! flying Ultralights has been one of the safest things I`ve done.
When I was instructing, a big guy who was a truck driver, came to have a fly! He showed me the scar on his back from the operation he`d had on his spine, but what was really bothering him was the operation he was supposed to have next, on his neck...He told me that even though he`d been told by old truckies not to jump down from the cab he continued to do it and he reckoned that was what recked his spine.
Frank, Franco!!!