My Experience with Chiropractic Care

Regular visits to a chiropractor can greatly increase your health, as well as provide your spine the maintenance that it requires. Furthermore, frequent visits to a chiropractor for spinal adjustments can protect you from serious medical surgeries and procedures.

Several years ago I worked as a furniture delivery person. The company was reputed and a well established business. The concept of lifting furniture and appliances had already been implemented in the training. A fifteen minute " How to properly and safely lift our products" video tape stressed the need to keep your back straight and bend at the knees. Despite it's poor production value, the informative video, not unlike many others of this sort, proved to be more than valuable to the entry level furniture delivery specialist.

Like anything of repetition, it was only a matter of time before a strained muscle, torn ligament or aching muscle occurred for me. It was not the act of lifting, well at least not directly. One morning my neighbors black lab ran into my house. This was not of particular concern to me. However I was running a little late for work, and the dog would not exit the house. Frustrated, I attempted to pull the dog outside by her collar. As I bent downwards to grab her collar, a wave of heat ascended from my neck and shoulders. This was accompanied by a shock of pain. It was as if my head were to heavy for my neck to support. I was completely handicapped in a matter of seconds. I tried to shake it off and tough it out, however the pain continued to pulsate up and down my neck. Within a few days I visited a general physician, who x rayed my neck and spine, and found absolutely nothing wrong with me. He prescribed muscle relaxers and pain killers and advised me that it would feel better in a few days. The drugs did help, but within a week the pain had hit me again, while completing the most mundane of tasks.

I ran across an article about a local chiropractor, the article the doctor inquired if the reader had any of these symptoms. It listed a dozen or so symptoms such as: clicking sounds from the neck area, stiff back aches, limited range of motion, head aches and so on.

As I was experiencing several symptoms he described and I was experiencing continuous pain I decided that I had nothing to lose so I scheduled an appointment. My first visit was compromised of a lot of questions about my particular symptoms, as well as a battery of strength tests and even more x rays. The next appointment was set for the next day, which included my first chiropractic adjustment. The doctor took me into a room with my x rays, compared these x rays to a set from a person with the correct spinal alignment.

Wow, my neck was off by quite a few degrees! The doctor ensured me that it only takes literally the weight of a US dime to mis-align ones spine. Furthermore the doctor informed me that it typically is not the act of lifting that triggers the pain, but more often than not it was the performance of a simple and often mundane task, such as bending down to grab a dog, that becomes the icing on the cake.

Chiropractic adjustments vary from practice to practice, and are meant to meet the particular needs of the patient. In my case, my care consists of me laying face down on a special table while the chiropractor manipulated my spine with a series of thrusts and massages. Then I would be instructed to turn over onto my back. What I was told by the chiropractor was slightly intimidating, as he said he would be adjusting my spine at the neck, and the 'cracking sounds' would be amplified by my skull, and they would in fact sound much more violent than they actually was. The chiropractor assured me there would be no pain.

Crack, Snap! Instantly I could tell that I had freedom of motion. I was a little bit sore, but my senses seemed heightened! With watery eyes of joy, I happily strolled to the receptionist area to set up my next appointment.

As it turns out, most chiropractic solutions, though they save you the trouble of a scalpel and surgeon, are not an over night, or one visit success story! During the first month I was going in for adjustments three times a week. Fortunately the human spine eventually conforms and the average patient will graduate to a bi weekly or even a monthly visit after sixty days. This holistic alternative is well worth your investigation and could prove to add immensely to your quality of life, when you consider the grim alternatives.