He was buried under seven feet of snow for about 5-6 minutes. He survived the avalanche--but his lower back was broken. “The doctor was like, ‘yeah, usually people die in an avalanche after two and a half minutes, so you are pretty lucky...’” says Brock Crouch, pro snowboarder and Olympic hopeful. As soon as he was able, the Carlsbad, California native headed straight to one of the best spine surgeons in Newport Beach: Dr. Robert Bray.
Hear the story from Brock himself in this exclusive video.
“We sat in a room with Dr. Bray for like an hour and he was like, ‘so, if you had broken this a little more you would have been paralyzed,’” he relates in his patient testimonial. After a few weeks of healing, Brock was looking to “do anything to get out of the house.” As soon as he was cleared, he started working with his trainer at the gym. But he didn’t make a move without the advice of Dr. Bray. Dr. Bray worked in tandem with Brock’s trainer to make sure that they were in agreement about what was needed to get their athlete back on the slopes.
Months later, Brock sent this video of himself riding slopeside. “Look who's back at it! Brock Crouch thanks for sharing this with us. We love watching you ride and are so happy to see you in your element again,” says the caption. Dr. Bray and his team love athletes of all levels. Their goal is to get their patients safely back to a healthy and active lifestyle.
