Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

TV

Melissa Gilbert treated for broken back

|
|
 
  
LOS ANGELES-FEBRUARY 5: Melissa Gilbert , president of the Screen Actors Guild, arrives at the 11th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on February 5, 2005, in Los Angeles. (UPI Photo/John Hayes) 
License photo
Published: July 14, 2010 at 4:27 PM

LOS ANGELES, July 14 (UPI) -- U.S. actress Melissa Gilbert says she is scheduled to undergo surgery for a broken back later this month.

Gilbert, 46, recently wrapped the stage musical tour of "Little House on the Prairie" in which she played the character of Ma. She had starred as Laura in the television series of the same name in the 1970s and 1980s.

The actress said she suffered back pain during the production of the musical, but didn't consult a neurosurgeon until the show had ended.

"He came in and said, 'Your back is broken, and it has been for months,'" Gilbert told People.com. "I sort of was in shock for a while. ... I thought doing a musical at 46, playing a woman in her late 20s, early 30s was amazing enough. But doing it with a broken back buys me a little more street cred."

The Web site said Gilbert is to undergo surgery July 22 to replace a disc with a plastic implant and fuse a vertebra in her lower spine.

How Gilbert sustained the injury was not reported.

Topics: Melissa Gilbert
Recommended Stories
© 2010 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Protesters, police clash at NATO summit Notable deaths of 2012 2012 Billboard Music Awards
The 137th Preakness Stakes Annual Solar eclipse occurs in U.S. Chen Guangcheng arrives in the U.S.
Additional TV Stories
1 of 29
Members of the Army's Old Guard place flags at Arlington National Ceremtery
View Caption
U.S. flags are seen in the rucksack of a soldier with the Army's 3d U.S. Infantry Regiment, The Old Guard, as he places flags at gravesites in Arlington National Cemetery as part of the Flags-In Memorial Day ceremony on May 24, 2012 in Arlington, Virginia. American flags were placed at each of the more than 220,000 grave markers in honor of those who served and Memorial Day. UPI/Kevin Dietshc
fark
Almost two millenia too late, the perfect planning tool for the Roman legion on the move
Daily Show writer partners with Slate to crowdsource ideas for amending and rewriting the Constitution....
Canada's national archives is being dismantled and scattered, who needs to remember the history...
Man disappears in Niagara Falls whirlpool; presumed to be spinning in his grave
Woman swallows toothbrush while brushing her teeth. Surgeons remove it before Oral B becomes Anal...
MSNBC Host Chris Hayes: I'm 'Uncomfortable' calling fallen military 'Heroes'