I am working on a series of posts about lessons learned from my chiropractic journey. I originally intended on writing three posts, but it looks like there’s going to be four. This is number two. Click here for number one.
This post probably should have been the first in the series, but oh well. This is how it’s gonna go down. I thought I should give you some background on why I started chiropractic.
Meet my spine. Curvy little thing, isn’t it? This is the scoliosis I have had since high school. It looks worse on the actual x-ray, but it’s not severe enough to require surgery. Notice in the picture how the red line veers to the right at the top of my spine? My neck is skewed to the right by over an inch. My chiropractor said most people’s necks are off by 3 or 4 mms. Mine is off by 28 mms.
This picture was taken in 2009, about a week after I started my spinal therapy. I was standing as straight as I could. This gives you a good idea of how funky my neck is. And do you see how there is no space between my left arm and my body, but there is space between my right arm and my body? That shows the curve of my spine.
In high school, my doctor said I didn’t need to do anything about the scoliosis–no surgery, no brace, no therapy, nothing. So I didn’t. I didn’t have any pain, except for occasional lower back pain (2-3 weeks per year). I knew my shoulders and hips were off, but I never really noticed my neck being off so much. Maybe that happened after high school. I don’t remember my doctor doing an x-ray, so I don’t think I grasped the full extent of the problem.
Fast forward to 2002. I was first introduced to chiropractic by my midwife when I was pregnant with Caleb. She said chiropractic helped many of her clients with general health and comfort, so I decided to try it. Dr. B could not x-ray me, but he did a thermal scan on my spine. He never mentioned the scoliosis–probably didn’t bother because there wasn’t much he could do about it while I was pregnant. Dr. B adjusted my left hip, my neck, and a few places on my spine during each visit. I had some minor soreness but no pain.
Dr. B explained how all organs are controlled by nerves, and those nerves flow through the spine. Each vertebra is linked to certain organs. That made sense to me, but I didn’t make the connection between general health and chiropractic. I still had the idea that chiropractic was only useful for certain situations like pregnancy or back pain due to trauma or sports injuries.
I had a neutral feeling about the experience. It did not harm me in any way, but I did not experience any dramatic changes to my health. I didn’t understand the potential benefits to me because I only went for a couple of months.
Fast forward to 2009. The kids and I went to two amusement parks while in NY. After I got off the Scrambler and a roller coaster, I knew something was messed up in my neck. It wasn’t painful. My neck just felt stiff, and there were a couple of places in my back that felt “off.” Other than having trouble sleeping, it wasn’t too bad, but it got to the point that I knew I had to do something about it.
I had been thinking about going back to chiropractic for several months because a good friend kept talking to me about how her whole family’s health had improved since starting chiropractic. I made an appointment, they took x-rays, and I figured I would just get a “quick fix” for the stiffness in my neck and be good to go, but what I discovered totally floored me.
The assistant put me in a room by myself with my x-ray hanging on the wall, illuminated, and I stared at it while I waited for the doctor. I was utterly shocked and frightened. I had no idea my spine was so distorted. In that moment, I had a deep sense that I was not healthy. Even though I had felt very healthy for the past few years, I knew my spine was not healthy, and if my spine was not healthy, my body could not be truly healthy.
My doctor later confirmed my intuition. He explained one of the biggest misconceptions we have about health is that if we feel good, then we are healthy. Nothing could be further from the truth. We’ve all heard of or know someone who was feeling great one day and then dropped dead from a heart attack the next. You can’t feel your arteries hardening. You can’t feel cancer growing in your body. Just because you are pain-free and symptom-free does not mean you are healthy.
My doctor also explained how the brain communicates to the rest of the body through the nerves in the spinal cord. When your spine is out of alignment, the nerve flow of communication is interrupted, and it can cause muscles and organs to malfunction, which can cause disease and other health problems. It was starting to make sense to me–the connection between spinal health and overall health.
In addition to the scoliosis, my x-ray showed three degenerated discs, two fused vertebrae, and a few other postural problems. I won’t explain each of these but will just say, they’re not good. I realized I had a long road of therapy ahead of me, but I didn’t realize the benefits and challenges that were waiting for me on the journey.
The good news is that the stiffness in my neck, which caused me to make the appointment, was relieved within the first week of treatment. Also within the first week, my allergies and asthma were 98% gone. (I used to take Claritin every single day of the year. I have only had to take it about 7 times in the last 8 months.) For years I had suffered from severe cramping during my monthly cycle. Within the first month of chiropractic, the cramps were completely gone, and they have not returned (can you say, oh happy day?). The other benefits I have experienced are improved posture, more flexibility, and increased range of motion.
But there have also been some bumps along the road. More on that in the next post…
