"I just didn’t feel well. I didn’t know what it was, we said it was a virus but I didn’t know what it was. I had never felt like that before, where I had headaches and nausea and all the rest of that stuff. So I had a concussion test. I took the baseline test and passed that… I’ve just never felt like this where you get lightheaded, you have headaches, you’re nauseous...It’s been a bit of a mystery with what exactly is going on. I did some blood-work and we’re trying to get to the bottom of what’s going on." I think I can explain either 2 possibilities for his symptoms other than a "mystery virus". First, when you are in pain and have a muscle-skeletal injury it disrupts normal neural input to the cerebellum (balance) and mid brain, and also sets up abnormal reflex arcs including alteration of blood and vestibular apparatus (again balance). If after the surgery he still has these symptoms I would go with my second suspicion. After a lower back injury, the spine compensates and usually L5 (his surgery repair) is linked to the first cervical vertebral segment. When position of this segment is changed, it can affect the nervous system, leading to common feelings of lethargy, headaches and nausea. Being a chiropractor for over 21 years I see this repeatedly. It usually only takes a couple of treatments to return to a more functional state.