Sports climber Kyra Condie is not slowed down by spinal fusion surgery

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SALT LAKE CITY – Kyra Condie first noticed her back pain over a decade ago, when she started competitive rock climbing. It was not a searing pain. More than constant pain. But she said it left her “like an old lady” – a worrying sign, considering she was only 11 years old.

Condie didn’t tell her parents about the pain, at least not right away. She’s not the type to complain. But as the pain persisted, she relented. And x-rays quickly revealed a significant problem, especially for a young, aspiring climber: Condie had a relatively severe case of scoliosis, a 52-degree curvature in his spine. She needed back surgery.

“It was a lot worse than I expected,” Condie said.

Condie never doubted that she would return to rock climbing, but she wasn’t sure how long she would be away or if she would one day be able to compete at the highest level of her sport.

And she certainly didn’t think she would ever compete in the Tokyo Olympics.

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But now, about 11 and a half years later, competitive climbing – or “sport climbing,” as it is officially called – is making its Olympic debut in Tokyo. And Condie, with 10 vertebrae fused into his spine, will be there. She is one of 20 women – including two Americans – to qualify for the Games.

“I’m a pretty stubborn person, so it was just something I would have to deal with,” Condie said of the 2010 back surgery, which put her on the sidelines for four months.

“I think not being put off about it was a big part of it. Just dealing with it as it came.”

Although it has been over a decade since the procedure, Condie, now 25, is still feeling some of its effects. She said she still had “general aches” in her back. She uses a heating pad every night. And because the top of his spine is essentially a solid mass, for example, Condie is unable to bend, twist, or arch his back to reach certain spots on the wall, like some of his competitors.

But that didn’t hinder his rise in the sport.

“It’s a part of who she is now. She just works around that,” her mother Cathy said. “It’s not something that defines her, I guess.”

Radiography

Condie’s path to the Olympics began at a friend’s birthday party at a climbing gym in Minnesota, when the person belaying Condie told him the gym had a climbing team. For the young.

For a child who grew up climbing neighborhood trees – and, in one case, his parents’ refrigerator – it was a natural fit.

“I was still climbing everything anyway,” she said.

In no time, Condie had transitioned from the regular gymnasium youth climbing team to the advanced team. She had competed nationally and dreamed of qualifying for the World Junior Championships when her back pain became unmanageable.

The first x-ray of her spine revealed a dramatic S-shaped curve, leaving both Condie and her parents in shock. Cathy Condie asked doctors if her daughter really need for surgery. They told her the curve would only get worse over time and could potentially damage her lungs if left untreated.

“I rarely cry, but I did when I saw this, when I saw his x-ray,” Condie’s mother said. “It was hard.”

An x-ray of the back of Olympic sports mountaineer Kyra Condie, before she underwent spinal fusion surgery in 2010.

The family sought the advice of three different spine surgeons before scheduling the procedure.

Condie said the former told her she wouldn’t be able to resume climbing for at least nine months, if at all, and then tried to console her by telling her that rock climbing was not that important in the grand scheme of things. The second said she would only be away for four months and asked her to send her a photo when she was on the top step of the podium.

Needless to say, Condie went with the second surgeon.

“He gave me a lot of confidence,” she said. “He really thought I was going to be able to climb again, which I think helped me a lot.”

Surgery

While Condie was on the operating table at Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare in St. Paul, Minnesota,the curvature of his spine had progressed to over 70 degrees.

It was in March 2010, a few months before his 14th birthday. In a procedure that lasted several hours, spine surgeon John Lonstein fused 10 vertebrae that run from the base of Condie’s neck to the bottom of his rib cage – using a combination of rods, hooks and of wires to straighten his spine.

She spent the next four days in the hospital – sometimes in severe pain, according to her mother.

“Basically, they break your back and put it back in place,” explained Cathy Condie. “Just a lot of nerve pain and healing and spasms, muscle spasms.”

Lonstein, who is now retired, said in an interview that he was confident Condie could resume escalation, depending on the specific type of merger proceeding she was having. And Condie, backed by the surgeon’s confidence, ensured that she scrupulously followed every recommendation during the rehabilitation process.

April 22, 2021;  Salt Lake, Utah, United States;  Climber Kyra Condie will compete for Team United States when sport climbing makes its Olympic debut at the Tokyo Games.  Condie trains at the Olympic Training Center.

Cathy Condie said that as soon as her daughter was able to walk, she walked at least 800 meters a day, as instructed by Lonstein. She also started swimming, to improve her mobility without putting additional stress on her back.

Four months later, as promised, she was back in the gym.

“It just shows that even if someone has scoliosis and has a fusion, they can do things and do whatever they want to do,” Lonstein said.

About 18 months later, in early 2012, Condie won the National Youth Bouldering Championships for the first time.

She took a photo, sealed it in an envelope, and sent it to Lonstein.

Recovery

Condie’s back surgery is often touted as a hurdle she overcame. And, in fairness, it is. But it also helped her move up through the ranks.

“I was kind of at that point in life where I had been involved in high performance sport at a young age, where I was kind of exhausted,” Condie explained. “So seeing myself take off the rock climbing at that point, with the back surgery, really made me realize how much that meant to me. Then I never lost any (excitement) after that. “

Surgery also shaped his climbing style. While Condie has always preferred the strong, straightforward approach to the “twisted, delicate and technical” style of climbing, back surgery has pushed her even further in that direction. In situations where most climbers could make their way to a hold, it must compensate with force.

FILE - Kyra Condie of the United States climbs during women's bouldering qualifying at the Climbing World Cup in Salt Lake City on May 21, 2021, file photo.  Condie was told that she needed back surgery to correct a severe curvature in her spine and that she would never be able to climb again.  She underwent surgery, after obtaining a second opinion, and decided to become one of the elite climbers in the world despite the fusion of 10 vertebrae.  (AP Photo / Rick Bowmer, file)

Everything has gone well so far. Condie won gold at the 2018 Pan American Championships and then placed seventh in an Olympic qualifying event in 2019 to secure her trip to Tokyo.

The sport climbing competition begins on August 3 at Aomi Urban Sports Park in Tokyo.

The thought of competitive rock climbing after having had serious back surgery might sound dangerous. But Lonstein said Condie was no more at risk of injury while climbing than anyone else.

Although she is discouraged from activities like skiing or collision sports, where there is a significant risk of receiving a blow to the head, rock climbing is perfectly fine.

“I let people do it. And if they find out that they are limited by their merger, they will stop,” Lonstein said. “People like Kyra – she doesn’t let anything stop her.”

Contact Tom Schad at [email protected] or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.



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