I’ll freely admit sometimes that I’m an idiot. However, the history I’ve had with back pain really is a doozy!
Around 15 years ago, I was laying on the sofa. Nothing major, I wasn’t twisting, I wasn’t stretching, I was just laying there watching TV. I then went to get up and I couldn’t. I literally could not move. Any move I made was met with the most impossibly awful pain radiating from my lower back. It was truly terrifying and I will never forget that moment where every question flashed in my mind. What was happening? What have I done? Will I ever be able to walk again? Why me?
The effective paralysis from pain eased over the next couple of hours and I was ultimately able to literally hobble around the house. Once I became able to walk any kind of distance, I went to visit my local GP. After a few minutes of prodding and pressing, the conclusion was that it was likely muscular and I was prescribed some anti-inflammatory tablets. I took these for the next couple of weeks and ultimately I recovered.
Well, I say recovered. Every 2-3 years since, I’ve experienced 2-3 week periods of time where the pain flares up. Mostly this comes out of nowhere although once it was while helping a friend move a piece of furniture. However, again, I would use anti-inflammatory medication and ibuprofen to get through it.
Around the end of June this year, I had the latest flare-up. This time, things were different. The back pain itself was fairly regular but I was left with awful sciatica and a lot of numbness down my right leg and right foot. Fortunately this is not circulatory as the colour is fine. I still can feel but the sensations are extremely dulled.
Finally, I went to a chiropractor.
Tests were run and I was diagnosed with collapsed arches in both feet, a 10-degree rotation in my spine leading to my hips being rotated when I’m allegedly looking straight ahead, a curvature in my lower spine and a compensating curve in my neck that is trying to keep it straight. Quite a lot of issues!!!
The net result was that, over all these years when I’ve been having flare-ups, the pain is the latest movement, and it going away is in no way symptomatic of the problem healing. It was simply my body settling into an ever-worse place.
All that said, the body is a remarkable thing and all of this can be reversed. As the chiropractor said, it is not him ‘fixing’ the problems. He is just facilitating the body fixing itself.
Round one of this was today. A course of spinal re-alignment. It was very quick, very painless and very effective. It was so great hearing each ‘pop’ as air was released from a trapped part of my spine. The only downside was that this also releases toxins that are then absorbed into the body and led to a bit of soreness and headache later but, by staying hydrated, it did not last long.
When I first stood up, I felt a little woozy. The chiropractor said this was because it’s probably the first time I’ve stood up anything approximating straight in years. That only lasted a few seconds and everything felt so ‘released’.
The downside is that the body is kind of like memory foam. Left to itself, it’ll just return to how it was. So these adjustments need to be continued till everything takes hold. I’ve got to wait a week for the next treatments since the place I’m going to is shut next week. But after that I have three more treatments lined up with a combination of re-alignment and massage to help the muscles relax and be more accommodating of the adjustments. I cannot WAIT!
Honestly, I mean this from the bottom of my heart. If you are, or indeed ever have experienced back pain, even if you’re not experiencing any pain at all, go to see a chiropractor. This has been a revelation in my life and I hope I can reverse the damage I’ve done to myself through nothing more than complacency for so long.
