Actually, Teddy got his back brace from standing up in an Aero Commander which crashed during a busted instrument approach, in which the pilot was killed as I recall, because Ted "needed" to land even though the weather was below minimums. Kennedys and airplanes (and cars) are a lethal combination.
To add on to your post, Ted was pulled out of the wreckage of the plane by Sen. Birch Bayh, father of the current Indiana senator. Bayh and his wife were not seriously injured in the crash.