Mean Treadmill=Broken Back?

Let me explain. Ryan and I have signed up to run the Columbus 1/2 marathon in the beginning of May and so the week had arrived for us to begin training. Since all the roads outside are still covered with way too much of this:

(that is, lots and lots of snow...not Grant) I have been forced to try to get some runs in on the treadmill. We do not own a treadmill but luckily enough our complex has a gym we can use. Last Wednesday night I decided to try to get a little running in after the kiddies were in bed.
I get to the gym and the only treadmill available is the one where you have to look at an angle to see the TV. But, slight neck strain is better than no running for the night, so I step on, ready for some exercising and Olympic ski race watching.
All is going well until about 4 minutes into my running it all becomes too much for me. One second I'm watching the Olympians fly down the mountain and the next I'm flying (in slow motion apparently) off the treadmill. As I flew off the back I thought, "am I really falling off the treadmill right now, in our crowded neighborhood gym? So when is the part when my face gets road-rashed by the spinning tread?" Finally, my body does make contact with something, thankfully not the spinning tread, but my back lands right on the sharp edge of the treadmill next to me. I couldn't help but let out a yelp to which my neighbor runner hopped off his treadmill to see if I was okay. Of course I jumped up saying "Yeah!!! I'm Okay!!!" Umm, not true... I got up on the treadmill ready to pick back up where I stopped, but quickly rethought that once the pain set in (kinda felt like someone had just hit me in the lower spine with a baseball bat). So I sit down on the ground and pretend like I'm stretching. After a minute of that (all the while the bat-back-beating continues) I think I'll go redeem myself on the elliptical. I stand in front of it, wishing the bat would stop smacking my spine, and then slowly back away to get my coat and leave. So much for that training run.
On the way home I call Ryan to tell him I may have broken my back from falling off the treadmill and I hope I'm not paralyzed by the time I get home. The paralysis talk is just the nurse in me being crazy and thinking up every possible problem that could result from back trauma. I know it's highly unlikely that would result from my fall but I put myself on spine precautions regardless (basically I keep my back as straight as possible with no crazy twists or bends).
The next couple of days are filled with back pain and me worrying that my toes are starting to get numb and tingly. I try going to an urgent care to get checked out on Thursday, but after waiting for 2 hours and still not seeing the doctor I have to leave to relieve the babysitter. I go back and forth between just waiting it out or trying to see a doctor again. But since I'm a worrier, I go to another urgent care on Friday night. One x-ray later the doctor diagnoses a possible spinous process fracture (the part of your spine you can feel on your back) and orders for me to have a CT scan to further evaluate. Unfortunately, I can't get the scan done until Monday. So, the weekend continues with back pain and me being extra careful not to do any windmills (you know, those bent-over twisting toe touch exercises from junior high PE class). And FYI, if you spend a couple days picking things up off the floor by doing deep knee bends and not bending your back, your knees grow angry and start hurting too.
Anyway, I finally get the CT scan and just tonight the doctor calls me with the report. Thankfully, there were no fractures!! Woo hoo, my tingly toe is not related to spinal cord infringement!! The report said I did have some herniation, but the doctor thinks it is likely to recover on it's own with rest and Ibuprofen. I'll take a little herniation over a broken bone any day, thank you.
So the moral of the story: always get on the treadmill with the TV right in front of you, I know I learned my lesson :)