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Bareback Rider Jess Pope Set to Return From Back Injury

Jess Pope had a season to remember in 2020, winning the average at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and finishing third in the PRCA | RAM World Standings.

This season Pope has had success – he was 16th in the May 25 world standings with $16,337 – but has been sidelined with a lower back injury since April 3 at the Riggin Rally Xtreme Broncs in Weatherford, Texas.

Pope is set to return May 29 at the MSU-Northern PRCA Extreme Bares & Broncs Challenge in Havre, Mont.

“The injury had been ongoing for a while, it started hurting at the rodeo in Kissimmee (Fla.), in February, but at the (Riggin’ Rally) it started hurting really, really bad,” said Pope, 23. “I could hardly walk. It’s my lower back, and I haven’t been on anything since the Riggin Rally. I got on the bucking machine (May 26) for the first time, and it went really well. I felt a lot better. I’ve been doing a lot of therapy on my back. The MRIs on my back showed the L5 had been cracked or fractured for a couple of years and I had no idea.

“When I was riding, I really wasn’t focusing on riding my bucking horse. I was focusing on how bad my back hurt. I chose to do rehab and it has been about strengthening all the smaller muscles right around my spine. They (the doctors) said this isn’t a career-ending injury, but I have to take care of it and watch it.”

The L4 and L5 are the two lowest vertebrae of the lumbar spine. Together with the intervertebral disc, joints, nerves and soft tissues, the L4-L5 spinal motion segment provides a variety of functions, including supporting the upper body and allowing trunk motion in multiple directions.

While Pope has been sidelined with his injury, he graduated from Missouri Valley College in Marshall May 1 with a degree in public relations with a minor in business.

“It was great to graduate, and now I’m excited to get back out there on the rodeo trail and see how things go,” Pope said. “I’ve changed up my workouts and stuff and I feel 100 percent. There’s still a lot of money to be won, and I don’t see why there would be any reason why I can’t be in the mix and get back to the NFR.”

Pope finished third in the 2020 world standings with $220,029. He won the average with 853 points on 10 head and earned $170,417 at his Finals debut, seventh most of any contestant that year.

Courtesy of PRCA

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