This is another post in the category of "things that work", which seems to be the bulk of my blog fodder lately. Lest you assume everything is working just fine, you can skip over to my other blog and check out the thing that has not been working; namely my back. It's amazing all the things you cannot do when your back gets in a snit. Some of these things include sleeping, rolling over, and walking. Also, don't even think about getting up off that toilet. And if you drop something on the floor, consider it lost forever. Showering is a challenge but I'm up for it. I don't really need to dry off from the thighs down. Forget shaving because it's not happening. But...since this is not the whining blog, I am here today to sing the praises of my chiropractic care.
I have to admit I was reluctant at first (translate kicking and screaming), but my beloved persuaded (translate nagged and threatened) me to go. While I was in the kicking and screaming phase, I distinctly remember wailing something about how this "chiropractor" (spit word out venomously), who didn't even know me, was going to twist my tormented body up like a pretzel and break me into bits. And don't you know exactly whose door I'd being laying that at. But beloved husband would not be deterred. He got a referral from a friend, and made an appointment for me. Then he all but carried/hoisted me into the truck and off we went.
It has been nearly two weeks, and though I am not nearly as spry as I'd like to be, I am happy to report that I am totally independent in the bathroom once more, and I can pick things up off the floor, albeit slowly and carefully. Which is to say, that if the thing dropped is edible, the dogs will still beat me to it. I am also happy to report that there has been no pretzel bending, cracking, or breaking involved...because apparently chiropractic care has gotten a whole lot gentler (and high tech) these days.
I can't say for a fact that any one thing has done the trick, because the doctor has had me doing several things, like icing my lower back, taking it very easy, but at the same time keeping moving. At the office, which has become my second home these days, I get a variety of treatments, including electrical charges in my sore muscles, which feel like a deep massage, plus something to do with light, which I have to say I don't entirely understand. Along with this, the doctor has worked slowly up to manually stretching things out and doing hands on adjustments. But the really cool thing he uses is this gizmo called the ProAdjuster. He takes something (I don't know because I can't see it) and goes click, click, click down my vertebrae. Then a series of boxes come up on the computer screen with little hills in them. Apparently this tells him something, because sometime he mutters in a frustrated undertone, and sometimes he sounds like he's congratulating himself. Then he takes out the little jack hammer, which again, I haven't actually seen, but beloved husband is really impressed by it. But it sounds and feels like a little hammer that tap, tap, taps away at your stubborn vertebrae and/or muscles. I have to say I had my share of scepticism, because, well, if a chiropractor isn't twisting you up and cracking you, is he really doing his job? On the other hand, as you know, I did not want anyone twisting me up and cracking me, so I was understandably conflicted. And there was the business of all these little hills, and the gadgets I cannot see. More conflict.
My main problem with all of this, is that I don't really understand how it works, and I can't twist around well enough to watch it working, especially with my back in a snit. I am reluctant to write a review about anything I can't fully dissect and understand. The WhirlyPop was a whole lot easier for obvious reasons. Yet, in the end I have to concede that I was more than pleasantly surprised to find help where I did not expect to. I must also concede that although I don't fully understand how the whole thing works, it does in fact seem to be working, and working well. I think chiropractic care, like your family doctor, is a relationship that grows over time. You can't just walk into a strange doctor's office, recite your symptoms, and demand a prescription. (Well, technically you can, but it doesn't work all that well.) Neither can you walk into a strange chiropractic practice and expect the Doc to crack a few joints and make you limber and pain free again. It takes time and energy to make it work, and if the doctor has a few gizmos that can gently coax your body to cooperate with the process, while he gets to know and understand your trouble spots, then I am happy to be shocked, and illuminated, and hammered upon. I was going to say get a buzz, get lit up, and get hammered, but it just didn't seem to be coming out right, but I digress.
Finally, for those of you who might be offended that I am referring to the chiropractor as "he", this is only because my current one is male. I am quite aware that women can be chiropractors too, since my very first chiropractor was a woman, and a darned good one too. She didn't have all the cool tech way back then, but she was the only person in the medical field who could give me relief during my pregnancies. But this is my happy blog, so we won't think about that right now.
I have to admit I was reluctant at first (translate kicking and screaming), but my beloved persuaded (translate nagged and threatened) me to go. While I was in the kicking and screaming phase, I distinctly remember wailing something about how this "chiropractor" (spit word out venomously), who didn't even know me, was going to twist my tormented body up like a pretzel and break me into bits. And don't you know exactly whose door I'd being laying that at. But beloved husband would not be deterred. He got a referral from a friend, and made an appointment for me. Then he all but carried/hoisted me into the truck and off we went.
It has been nearly two weeks, and though I am not nearly as spry as I'd like to be, I am happy to report that I am totally independent in the bathroom once more, and I can pick things up off the floor, albeit slowly and carefully. Which is to say, that if the thing dropped is edible, the dogs will still beat me to it. I am also happy to report that there has been no pretzel bending, cracking, or breaking involved...because apparently chiropractic care has gotten a whole lot gentler (and high tech) these days.
I can't say for a fact that any one thing has done the trick, because the doctor has had me doing several things, like icing my lower back, taking it very easy, but at the same time keeping moving. At the office, which has become my second home these days, I get a variety of treatments, including electrical charges in my sore muscles, which feel like a deep massage, plus something to do with light, which I have to say I don't entirely understand. Along with this, the doctor has worked slowly up to manually stretching things out and doing hands on adjustments. But the really cool thing he uses is this gizmo called the ProAdjuster. He takes something (I don't know because I can't see it) and goes click, click, click down my vertebrae. Then a series of boxes come up on the computer screen with little hills in them. Apparently this tells him something, because sometime he mutters in a frustrated undertone, and sometimes he sounds like he's congratulating himself. Then he takes out the little jack hammer, which again, I haven't actually seen, but beloved husband is really impressed by it. But it sounds and feels like a little hammer that tap, tap, taps away at your stubborn vertebrae and/or muscles. I have to say I had my share of scepticism, because, well, if a chiropractor isn't twisting you up and cracking you, is he really doing his job? On the other hand, as you know, I did not want anyone twisting me up and cracking me, so I was understandably conflicted. And there was the business of all these little hills, and the gadgets I cannot see. More conflict.
My main problem with all of this, is that I don't really understand how it works, and I can't twist around well enough to watch it working, especially with my back in a snit. I am reluctant to write a review about anything I can't fully dissect and understand. The WhirlyPop was a whole lot easier for obvious reasons. Yet, in the end I have to concede that I was more than pleasantly surprised to find help where I did not expect to. I must also concede that although I don't fully understand how the whole thing works, it does in fact seem to be working, and working well. I think chiropractic care, like your family doctor, is a relationship that grows over time. You can't just walk into a strange doctor's office, recite your symptoms, and demand a prescription. (Well, technically you can, but it doesn't work all that well.) Neither can you walk into a strange chiropractic practice and expect the Doc to crack a few joints and make you limber and pain free again. It takes time and energy to make it work, and if the doctor has a few gizmos that can gently coax your body to cooperate with the process, while he gets to know and understand your trouble spots, then I am happy to be shocked, and illuminated, and hammered upon. I was going to say get a buzz, get lit up, and get hammered, but it just didn't seem to be coming out right, but I digress.
Finally, for those of you who might be offended that I am referring to the chiropractor as "he", this is only because my current one is male. I am quite aware that women can be chiropractors too, since my very first chiropractor was a woman, and a darned good one too. She didn't have all the cool tech way back then, but she was the only person in the medical field who could give me relief during my pregnancies. But this is my happy blog, so we won't think about that right now.
Well, I am sooooooooooo glad you are getting your old spit and vinegar back.........incidentally, I heard somewhere that the Amish invented those little hammer things..........
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