What’s Behind Sylvester Stallone’s Cane? Inside the Health Battles That Shaped His Career

Sylvester Stallone showed up to the Kennedy Center Honors with a very fancy accessory - a gold cane. Not a style flex, as it turns out. It is pain management catching up with decades of doing the most Sylvester thing possible: taking real hits and doing his own stunts.

Why the cane

At the gala, Stallone explained he has already been through eight back surgeries and has another one coming up. If you have watched him willingly eat punches in the Rocky movies and throw himself around for decades, that checks out. The guy built his career on shrugging off impact. Eventually the bill arrives.

The Expendables was the breaking point

The injury that really changed things did not come from Rocky or Rambo. It came on The Expendables, which Stallone directed and, of course, performed stunts for. One brutal slam on set set off a chain of surgeries and lingering damage he says he never fully bounced back from. On his reality series The Family Stallone, as quoted by Men’s Health, he put it this way:

'I did stupid stuff. I was directing Expendables and, like an idiot, I am doing take 10, take whatever, and I remember one slam and I could actually feel one bang... I never recovered from Expendables. After that film, it was never physically the same... So I warn people: Don’t do your own stunts.'

That is Sly in a nutshell - total commitment, long memory of the consequences.

Is he slowing down?

Different question. He is not calling it quits. The man has Tulsa King and a very clear stance on retirement. In his words:

'Forget it. Because I don’t know the concept of retiring. I thought I did. Wouldn’t it be great to mow your lawn every day and chase bees off the roses or whatever you do? And I go, No. I am just not - I am built for war. You know what I mean? Creative war.'

Translation: fewer stunts, more Sly - and he plans to keep working.

• Stallone arrived at the Kennedy Center Honors using a gold-plated cane.
• He says he has had eight back surgeries, with another on the way.
• Years of doing his own stunts and taking real hits, especially on Rocky, took a long-term toll.
• The turning point was a slam he took while directing and starring in The Expendables, which led to multiple surgeries.
• He now tells others not to do their own stunts.
• Despite the injuries, he is not retiring and continues acting, including on Tulsa King.
• If you want a refresher on the movie that changed everything, The Expendables is currently streaming on Peacock in the US.