Nathan Horton on career-threatening injury: ‘I’m like a zombie in the daytime’

Nathan Horton has likely played his last NHL game, joining Mike Bossy and others on the list of hockey players whose back ailments proved too severe for them to continue. 

Horton finally spoke about this with Aaron Portzline of the Columbus Dispatch, and the story is heartbreaking. His degenerative back injury - which literally came out of nowhere, as he never had a history of back problems – has caused him constant agony.

“I can’t stand up like a normal person; I can’t bend over,” Horton told the paper. “I can’t run. I can’t play with my kids. To get in and out of the car, I’m like a 75-year-old man … so slow and stiff. I can’t sleep at night. I try to lay down and my back seizes up and I can’t move, so sleeping is out. I’m like a zombie in the daytime.”

He said he noticed problems with his back as he rehabbed a shoulder injury, one that that Columbus Blue Jackets were aware of when they signed him to a 7-year, $37.1-million deal, the biggest free-agent score in franchise history. He thought it would loosen up as he worked back to the ice. It didn’t, and soon Horton was compensating for the injury through changing his skating stride – which led to a groin injury in April.

What the future holds for him, as far as hockey, is bleak. From Portzline:

There are five vertebrae in the lumbar region. In Horton’s case, he said, he would need to have at least three, maybe four, fused with a titanium rod.The titanium provides stability and support and a relatively pain-free existence.

“For an elite-level athlete, it can severely restrict mobility, flexibility and shock absorption,” said Dr. Safdar Khan, chief of the division of spine surgery at Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center.“We get our regular patients back to a point where they can swim and be active and live normal lives. But playing a competitive sport — especially one like hockey with the body checks and the hitting — that is not something that’s going to happen.”

Horton has yet to make a call on the surgery, but he admits that the time is coming to do so.

Such a sad story. Horton was a gamer, a player who was building an impressive postseason résumé after wallowing outside the postseason in Florida for so many years. He was supposed to be a cornerstone for the Blue Jackets as they built a sustainable contender.

But none of that matters now. What matters is Horton’s health, his happiness and his family.

MORE NHL COVERAGE ON YAHOO SPORTS