No more broken back!
Aug. 13th, 2009 10:09 amI just looked back in my recent entries, and realized that I've never talked about the back problems I've been having for the past couple of months.
About 6 to 8 weeks ago, I started having trouble getting out of bed in the morning. Not that I didn't WANT to, but that it was extremely painful, and I felt like I had no strength at all in my lower back. To get out of bed, I would have to brace myself on something (the wall at my old place, the nightstand and then the walls on either side of the hall to the closets at my new place), and then hobble to a chair and sit on a hard surface for 5 minutes before I could walk properly. Once I'd gotten up and had that sit-down for a bit, I'd be fine for the rest of the day, as long as I didn't lie down for any more than a minute or 2. I went to my doctor about a month or so ago, but she didn't really have any answers for me and said it was simply typical lower back pain.
Well, another month of putting up with it and I decided I was fed up. I spoke with a couple of friends who recommended a chiropractor, and then on Sunday night when we had our barbecue with Ian's family, I was talking to one of his sisters about it and she said it sounded like a SI joint (sacro-iliac) injury. I googled that on Monday morning, and my symptoms matched the descriptions I found exactly, and most of what I read recommended going to a chiropractor for it. So I made an appointment with a local chiropractor for Wednesday afternoon.
Oh. My. Goddess. The chiropractor was a frakkin' miracle worker! He did a full assessment with balance tests and strength tests and whatever else, and came to the conclusion that I had both an SI joint injury, but also some nerve issues (pinched or something, I guess). He did an adjustment using a special articulated table called Lumbar Traction Therapy to fix the SI joint injury and release the nerves. It didn't hurt at all - in fact it felt really good - and while it was difficult to get up off the table at the office there, once I was standing and walking, my back started feeling better almost immediately. And getting out of bed this morning was about 90% back to normal. Yay!
I go back for another treatment this afternoon, and then I'm guessing it'll probably be once a week for a while or something. He said he'll be giving me exercises to do when I go in today. Hopefully I will be given the ok to start using the cardio machines in the fitness room soon too!
About 6 to 8 weeks ago, I started having trouble getting out of bed in the morning. Not that I didn't WANT to, but that it was extremely painful, and I felt like I had no strength at all in my lower back. To get out of bed, I would have to brace myself on something (the wall at my old place, the nightstand and then the walls on either side of the hall to the closets at my new place), and then hobble to a chair and sit on a hard surface for 5 minutes before I could walk properly. Once I'd gotten up and had that sit-down for a bit, I'd be fine for the rest of the day, as long as I didn't lie down for any more than a minute or 2. I went to my doctor about a month or so ago, but she didn't really have any answers for me and said it was simply typical lower back pain.
Well, another month of putting up with it and I decided I was fed up. I spoke with a couple of friends who recommended a chiropractor, and then on Sunday night when we had our barbecue with Ian's family, I was talking to one of his sisters about it and she said it sounded like a SI joint (sacro-iliac) injury. I googled that on Monday morning, and my symptoms matched the descriptions I found exactly, and most of what I read recommended going to a chiropractor for it. So I made an appointment with a local chiropractor for Wednesday afternoon.
Oh. My. Goddess. The chiropractor was a frakkin' miracle worker! He did a full assessment with balance tests and strength tests and whatever else, and came to the conclusion that I had both an SI joint injury, but also some nerve issues (pinched or something, I guess). He did an adjustment using a special articulated table called Lumbar Traction Therapy to fix the SI joint injury and release the nerves. It didn't hurt at all - in fact it felt really good - and while it was difficult to get up off the table at the office there, once I was standing and walking, my back started feeling better almost immediately. And getting out of bed this morning was about 90% back to normal. Yay!
I go back for another treatment this afternoon, and then I'm guessing it'll probably be once a week for a while or something. He said he'll be giving me exercises to do when I go in today. Hopefully I will be given the ok to start using the cardio machines in the fitness room soon too!