'I 'walked off' a broken back as a kid': 21 Tough-as-nails Gen Xers share the craziest injuries they 'walked off'

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
May 31, 2024 9:00 AM EDT

Gen X is built different. 

Considering the number of scrapes, bruises, broken bones, and mild concussions that this generation endured, Gen X is surprisingly well off. Although they endured several bike accidents before helmet laws were a thing, most Gen X folks will look back on their younger years and be proud of their resilience. 

Consequently, every Gen X survivor has a story from the 70s or 80s where they narrowly escaped disaster simply by being the toughest kiddos on the block. But at what point does Gen X toughness turn to parental ignorance? Keep scrolling to read some of the craziest accidents and injuries that a few Gen X kids were tough enough to 'walk off'. Because when they're on the baseball field and get knocked in the dome with a rogue fastball, Gen X will instinctively rub some dirt in it before ever considering calling an ambulance…

After this, here's another collection of Gen X musings in the form of a slang crazes. 

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  • 01
    "Stop being dramatic!" I broke my foot in 6 places...
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  • 02
    Posted by u/AnalogAgain 1 day ago I "walked off" a broken back as a kid. What did you have to "walk off" as a Gen X kid? Input, please
    via AnalogAgain
  • 03
    Not even kidding. We had a tyre rope swing as a kid which I was swinging on one day when the rope snapped right at full swing. I went sailing through the air and landed flat on my back on a pile of broken bricks. (Cause that's
    via AnalogAgain
  • 04
    what boomer parents left as a soft landing for us I guess?) Anyhow, I was totally winded, in absolute agony and I get the old "C'mon get up; you'll be right. Just walk it off."
    via AnalogAgain
  • 05
    Well many years later I discovered that it actually crushed two of my thoracic vertebrae! Yup... I had to "walk off” two crushed spinal bones. I'm betting there's more similar Gen X'er stories out there.
    via AnalogAgain
  • 06
    • GandolfMagicFruits 1 day ago edited 1 day ago Broken finger. My dad was a doctor and assured me my finger wasn't broken and didn't need an x-ray (walk it off). It did, and it was.
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  • 07
    Several weeks later, after confirming the break, I had to undergo iv Valium while they rebroke the finger because it had regrown the wrong way.
    via GandolfMagicFruits
  • 08
    mamap31 1 day ago I fell off a fireman's pole at the playground and landed. on my foot when I was five. Broke my foot in six places but my dad thought I was "just being dramatic" and
    via mamap31
  • 09
    refused to take me to the hospital. Mom finally realized I couldn't put any weight on it and insisted on taking me for X-rays and I came out with a cast I had to wear all summer. Thanks for the vote of confidence Dad.
    via mamap31
  • 10
    kalitarios 1 day ago 1977 "But did you die? No. So get out there and help mow the lawn, or no more playing with Lego until you help out around here.
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  • 11
    EKHOLM 14 • 99titan 1 day ago Slightly fractured C4 vertebra after a bad landing on a high jump in middle school. My neck hurt afterward, and Mom kept saying I just had a bruise. Dad
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  • 12
    kept saying I was too soft. It persisted for two days (the pain was there but not debilitating). It got worse at school on the third day, and it swelled. School nurse saw it and called an ambulance.
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  • 13
    Doc chewed Mom and Dad straight out when they arrived. I survived with no harm, like most of us. Dad yelled at me all the way home for "making such ano fuss" with me in a neck brace.
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  • 14
    CodeRed8675309 1 day ago "You just have mono or something" Sick for months, ended up in a coma, woke up being told I'm T1D with sugar at 996 so yay almost broke 1k.
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  • 15
    otterfeets 1 day ago My sister snapped her femur running up the back yard slope. The bones were completely misaligned and my mom made her get up and walk. Her friend ran and got
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  • 16
    her mom who quickly took over and sat my sister down until the ambulance came. She was in the hospital in traction for 6 weeks, then a cast from her waist to her one knee. Wild.
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  • 17
    Fly Tetas 1 day ago Broken arm when I was 3. I fell off the slide and my mom thought I was just being cranky about it, so she made me go take a nap. Later on, a neighbor had to tell her it might be broken. It was.
    via Fly Tetas
  • 18
    Ivejoy25 1 day ago Very swollen sprained ankle(s). "Stop being dramatic"! 159 Reply Share ... Thirty_Helens_Agree 1 day ago edited 1 day ago Fs broken ankle- elementary school teacher was like "here's an ice pack. Shut up."
    via Ivejoy25
  • 19
    DragonTHC 1 day ago I walked off getting hit by a car on my bike. And then I got yelled at by the driver for riding in the street. We didn't have bike helmets back then.
    via DragonTHC
  • 20
    thereal_sherwoody 1 day ago Perforated ear drum from a 'clip around the ear' 40 Reply Share 0143999 1 day ago I'm so sorry. I got a lot of those too.
    via thereal_sherwoody
  • 21
    Cultural-Parsley-408 · 1 day ago I walked off ulcerative colitis until I was dx far into adulthood. Maybe if I wasn't so emotional, I wouldn't have so many stomach problems.../s
    via Cultural-Parsley-408
  • 22
    Worried_Ad_5614 1 day ago Front wheel popped off my bike, I went smashing into the concrete. Didn't break my wrists, but ligaments were badly injured. This happened at an intersection and no one helped me. I grabbed my wheel and bike and with my limp wrists dragged them home. Parents never took me to the hospital. I was 12 or 13.
    via Worried_Ad_5614
  • 23
    • Reasonable_Smell_854 1 day ago Pneumonia when I was 10. After 3 days of "sucking it up" was told if I wasn't going to school I was going to the doctor. I weakly croaked out "take me to the doctor". Was still accused of malingering after the doc visit and confirmed I was sick
    via Reasonable_Smell_854
  • 24
    Aware_Sweet_3908 1 day ago I still can't believe my appendix didn't burst. I started complaining early one evening and my mom thought I'd eaten too many Rice Krispie treats (knowing her, I'd had two small ones). I didn't go to the doctor until the next day and he told her to go to the hospital immediately. I was 8.
    via Aware_Sweet_3908
  • 25
    wokeoneof2 1 day ago I was told to walk off a shattered hip after being thrown from a horse my dad put me on. Two days of dragging my left leg before they took me to the ortho doctor
    via wokeoneof2
  • 26
    TealFlamingoCat · 1 day ago I knocked my 2 front teeth out. Well not OUT the were loose and pushed back. So my mom reached in and with her 2 thumbs pulled them forward and pushed them back up.
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  • 27
    Yep. My adult teeth. I was probably 10 or so when it happened. My teeth look fine. Straight and no discoloration.
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  • 28
    I guess she did what the dentist or dr would have done. Pushed them back in and waited to see what would happen.
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  • 29
    danceswithsockson 1 day ago • The dumbest one for me was a bad double ear infection I had for like a month. I had complained about it, but mom thought I was just trying to miss school. One morning i woke up deaf. Mom sent me
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  • 30
    to school saying I was joking. I got sent home, because a friend of mine told me their grandmother died and I just nodded and smiled. She
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  • 31
    started yelling at me and I just looked confused. She got someone, I think maybe they thought i was having a stroke or something, because who goes deaf randomly?
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  • 32
    Anyway, my hearing came back after about a week of antibiotics. My mom has no memory of it, because she was a perfect mom.
    via danceswithsockson
  • 33
    stuck_behind_a_truck 1 day ago Appendicitis. "It's just a bladder infection. Here's some cranberry juice." Shocker, the sugar water didn't cure me and it burst. I developed sepsis and spent 3 weeks in the hospital. I lived out of spite!
    via stuck_behind_a_truck
  • 34
    • deathproofbich · 1 day ago Brain tumour. Everyone thought I was faking my headaches.
    via deathproofbich

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millennial elder millennial boomer nostalgic memes relatable memes shake it off rub some dirt in it childhood relatable nostalgia funny memes Memes nostalgic 80s lol 80s memes meme gen x walk it off baby boomers genx nostalgia memes funny gen x memes
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