Swogger's Revenge: A Back Injury Story

[stef]

by Matthew Swogger

​On 11 June 2004, around midnight, I fell 40 feet off a building and broke my back. Since that time, I have been through an interesting rehabilitation. The story is lengthy, but barbell training figured into my recovery. Strength training is the basis upon which I continue to keep myself functioning on a day-to-day basis, and my experiences may be of use to you the next time you get hurt, or just cannot seem to find the motivation to go and do your squats.​

Read Article

[6530]

Damn. Not all heroes wear capes.

[Tiburon]

Rock on brother. Great story, thanks for sharing.

[Hobi]

Thanks for sharing your story. I am sure it will help me when I have one of those low motivation days.

[jrreed]

Thank you for sharing your story ... very motivating. I'm recovering from much lesser back surgeries, so I appreciate your perspective.

[mike]

amazing, inspirational, and delightful read - that speaks volumes about your character.

good on you, mathew!

[curlrackhog]

The first time it happened I was conveniently located on top of a ridge at about 7500 ft, way off trail, with minimal gear, at about 5pm, and of course by myself, because brains.

Thanks for the near spit-take. Very inspirational story, thanks for the great article.

[VictoryGrin]

Thank you so much for sharing your story, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[David Kirkham]

Great story. Thanks for sharing. It's great to hear others' challenges under the bar and seeing them overcome them. I had a nasty "widow maker" heart attack 3 years ago. My cardiologist looked at me like I was crazy when I asked him how long did I need to wait before deadlifting 300.

I pulled 400 last week. I wonder if I'm AMA. A lot of us here battle voices in our head telling us to stop.

[matthewswogger]

Damn. Not all heroes wear capes.

Tom always makes me take my cape off for pictures.