(251/366) Vertebrae

13

Sept 7, 2012 – OK, technically the title should be vertebra since there is only one, but I used the plural since I was at the chiropractor today and he put mine all back in line again after a long weekend of riding and two days on the rivers seining salmon. I needed to be realigned and I feel so much better for it.

The first time I went to a chiropractor was in 1987. I was an apprentice at a hair salon, and on boxing day I threw something out so badly it brought me to my knees. I was in so much pain I couldn’t think. I worked with a wonderful group of people (well, most of them) and they all spent many hours a day on their feet. Everyone had used a chiropractor, and there was a client who had a very good reputation. But he was on holidays, so one of the stylists just started working through the phone book looking for anyone to take me that day. Eventually someone answered and I was deposited in a taxi and sent to his office.

He snapped me from my nose to my toes, and at the end of the event I felt worse than when I went in. I got back into the waiting cab and arrived back at the salon in tears. The stylists drugged me up and sent me home with the assurance that once I’d had a chance to rest, and the muscles had had an opportunity to relax around the realigned bones, things would improve.

They were right, and although I never really liked that particular man, I saw him again several more times until things were back to normal.

It was years before my back flared up again. But when it did, man was it awful. I was in so much pain that the concept of letting anyone touch my back wasn’t an option for a few days. I was literally crippled. I had a few incidents when I was younger. In my late teens I slipped on a set of concrete stairs and smashed my back. It was about -30C and I was paralyzed for a few moments. I could see my father in the house, but it was dark outside, he couldn’t see me, and I had lost the ability to yell. Eventually I managed to crawl inside. A few years later I was involved in an accident when we were run off the freeway outside of Vancouver. That banged somethings around and caused a few problems, but the biggie came when we were rear-ended by a drunk driver while we were stopped at a light. He plowed into us full tilt. We were just lucky we were in an SUV and he was in a car. That messed both of us up, but not as badly as it could have.

All of those incidents combined are presumably the root of my recurring issues. That and stress, which bunches up my shoulder muscles, pulls on my vertebrae and sets it out of alignment, which in turn slips under one of my ribs and pushes up under my scapula. Yeah, that’s fun when that happens. That’s a few months of work to sort it all out. Luckily that hasn’t happened since I finished my PhD. But during the PhD it did happen a couple of times, and that was when I finally called on that practitioner who had been a client while I still worked at the salon. It was really great to see him and catch up, and I was pretty good about it for awhile, until finances were a bit tight. He was generous and reduced his rates since I was a student, but eventually I slipped off the appointments and didn’t see him again.

But then I took up riding a motorcycle. Great fun, except I am partial to sportbikes, and that full crouch position doesn’t do my back any favours. So a few months ago, after an eight year absence, I found myself back at my chiropractor’s office. When he saw me he was delighted, and we had a conversation about the way lives intertwine and weave away and back together again. He’d been in the salon recently, and he’d asked my former employer (Derek) about me. I still have lunch with the woman I worked directly with (Lorraine), and sometimes Derek too. I was only back in because my neck was starting to bunch up, and with the field season coming, and having a full medical benefit coverage at the moment, I decided it was silly to not go in and have things realigned.

Since that revisit a few months ago, I have found that I really missed having him click things back into place! When we were heading out for three days of riding, I went in for a pre-adjustment and he laughed and said he’d get me “race-ready”, and he even adjusted my wrists. When he was done he smiled and said “will I see you next week?” I said “Oh, yes, I’m sure Ill need to have everything put back where it belongs after this ride!”

So today was a fabulous readjustment. My neck now turns, my shoulder blade isn’t hurting anymore, and the one vertebrae I could feel as a bump on my lower back is now back in place amongst its fellow bones.

I know some people are skeptical of chiropractic care, and others are simply afraid. But I can say with all honesty, that I can’t imagine not using a chiropractor. Muscle relaxants mask the pain, but unless the bones are aligned properly, the pain will come back.

I’m so happy to be back together…now…what’s the next adventure to mess me up again? 🙂