Chiropracticing

(A deal’s a deal. Even if I’m slow.)

My back has been giving me grief for most of the last four years. I spent a year fencing on a pair of sore ankles, but then when I hurt my back as well, I decided to call it quits.

Now, one might think that I might be interested in actually doing something about continual pain in my lower back, but hey, that might make sense! Be reasonable! Be, dare I say it, sensible! Instead, I just dealt with it, figuring it would go away. It didn’t.

About a month ago, people from a local chiropractor practice came by our cafeteria at work. They were trying to drumb up clientele for their new location “directly across” from campus. (It took me twenty minutes to walk “directly across” the street to their location in back of an industrial park.) In the interests of screwing with their heads, I sat down for their brief examination. When the chiropractor asked if I was stressed, I laughed at him. He noticed some longer-standing issues than just stress, and suggested I come in for a full evaluation. Surprise, surprise. But, the receptionist was cute, and more importantly, they were copay-free, and local. So I went in.

The chiropractor vaguely remembered me, and sat down and walked me through a full questionaire. He then measured the displacement of my spine (HA! I must have another inch or two stuck in there somewhere), and took some X-rays of my upper spine where it connects to my skull.

They’re a little bit hippy-ish at this particular chiropractor. They don’t go in for the painful abrupt adjustments that most chiropractors do — instead, they operate on the assumption that since something has caused the back to shift itself out of alignment, if they can undo that original issue, the back will shift itself back into alignment. Cute, makes sense, I like it. Of course, they also all sorts of “healthy diet” items as well, including supplements that I’m certainly not going to buy, especially there, but I’d rather have a permanent fix rather than recurring trips to keep “fixing” my back every few weeks.

I went back for the second visit, when the X-rays were ready. The doc sat me down (Did I mention my official file with them has my occupation as “Computer Therapist”? I don’t think they got it…), and pulled out the X-rays. He opened by telling me that the problems with my back had not started four years ago.

They started more like ten years ago. He was able to demonstrate the logic behind his conclusion by pointing to the improper growth of bone in my lower neck — and I smiled and told him it was probably twelve years — I’d just blame my first girlfriend. (Ruth, if by some wild stretch you’re reading this, I’m just kidding, dear.)

So yeah. I didn’t take good enough care of myself a decade ago, and now I’m paying for it. Well, technically, Premera Blue Cross is paying for it. I’m scheduled for twice-or-better visits per week for the next month and a half. Apparently 5% of patients see an immediate improvement, 90% of patients see a gradual improvement, and 5% of patients get worse before getting better.

Guess which group I’m in…

Carrying my laptop has never been this painful…

But all is well! We have foster kittens at home, and Mandrina is trying to convince me to let one of the three beasts stay (I’ve said no). Work is going, well… work is work. My folks were in town last week, and I’ll post some pictures of our myriad trips once I’ve finished sorting through the last 4 years of photos. (PLUG: Microsoft Expression Media 2 ROCKS.)