A Visit to a Chiropractor

As most who know me, know that I spent a great chunk of my life around medicine--allopathic medicine--you know the allopaths--they have M.D. after their name. Chances are, your family doctor is an allopath, although he/she may be an osteopathic doctor--a D.O. Bot of these groups have always considered D.C.s (Doctor of Chbirpractic) to be little more than snake oil salesmen who supposedly could make all things better by doing "spinal adjustments". By process of osmosis, I pretty much felt the same way--that is until this week.

For the last seven years, I have suffered from severe lower back pain, numbness of most of my right foot and "drop foot" involving my right foot. All of this came about from a herniated disc in my lower back. The pain has waxed and waned over the years but has gotten progressively worse in the past few months. Not only have I suffered but others around me have also because all of this has made me extremely grumpy and a whole lot more cantankerous than I usually am.

A week or so ago, I read an advertisement in our local fish wrap about a chiropractor who has a new treatment he claimed would solve herniated disc problems without any surgery. This treatment is called Spinal Decompression. He offered a free examination, to include X-rays and a consultation and so I decided to take him up on it. The X-rays revealed that I had a lot of arthritis in my lower (lumbar) spine along with a severe misalignment of all five lumbar vertebrae. It was so severe that even I was able to point all of it out to my wife Carrie. The doctor confirmed what I had told Carrie and recommended a series of 20 treatments, which would include Spinal Decompression, Spinal Adjustments and Electrical Muscle Stimulation (much like TENS Therapy--Transcuntaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) to relax the muscles surrounding my spine. If all of this sounds like hocus pocus, I gotta tell you that it ain't.

The Spinal Decompression treatments are done by putting you in a harness that is hooked up to a computer controlled traction device that works using tension and relaxation cycles for about 25 minutes. The Spinal Adjustments are just that--he manipulates my spine to put the vertebrae back into their normal anatomical position.

I have had two treaments so far and I have to say, that I can notice a distinct difference. My back is more relaxed, my gait is getting back to normal and I don't have near as much pain. I sincerely believe that if I continue to make as much progress over the next 18 treatments I will regain much of the use of my right leg and foot, the pain will be gone and life will be more normal. These are the things the doctor tells me will happen and it seems to be going that way.

Is this for everyone? I don't know since most medical insurance dies not cover chiropractic treaments. But if you have chronic back pain and you have been told you need surgery to make it all better, I recommend you find a chiropractor who is trained in Spinal Decompression and give it a try or at least talk to him/her.

I will keep you posted.