A New Experience

For the last week or so I've had pain in my lower back. It felt fused and unmovable. Somedays it was hardly noticeable, other days I had to move in slow motion. Thursday night, I got up from the sofa and felt a twinge. During the night it got much worse, totally freezing on me.

In the past, working at Gallo, whenever I had back trouble I just went to see the on-site physical therapist and he got me going in no time. I don't have that luxury now, so I had to decide what to do. Greg has gone to Atkinson Chiropractic a couple of times recently and just raved about it. Though I've never gone to a chiropractor, I felt I had no other choice. My PT appointment was at 10:30, and Dave Atkinson could only see me at 10. I had to go to Dave and move the PT appointment.

Greg was right. Dave was wonderful. First he did a thermal scan of my spine, showing every vertebrae and a color code of 1,2, or 3 as to how severe it was. He pinpointed the vertebraes that were out of alignment. Next, two x-rays. I was happy to find out I had great spacing between all my bones and did not have degenerative disc disease, which I was told 5 years ago from another x-ray. However, there is a curvature to my spine. I kind of knew that. When I was 13, an orthopedic specialist told me I had lumbar scoliosis of 14 degrees. I did exercises to straighten it out. Dave said it wasn't 14 degrees, but could attribute to me having back problems once in a while. I've also believed I had one leg shorter than the other. He wasn't so sure without measuring them. From the x-ray it looked like my pelvis was tilted instead. He also educated me on when to use a heating pad and when to use ice. Since I had burned my back the night before from sleeping on the heating pad, I needed to use more ice, plus low pain requires heat, high pain requires ice. Good to know!

After the diagnostics, he hooked me up to electrodes to lessen the inflammation and pain. Then he adjusted me. It's a rather forceful procedure, but I heard the air popping out of my spine and felt the pain leaving. It felt so much better afterwards. He wants to see me back Monday just to follow-up, told me I could call him at home if I needed to this weekend, and gave me a hug before I left. All in all it was a great experience.

Today Kristen and I look for a dress for MORP. We found one online, but we're going to look locally as well. We might find something much less expensive but just as cute. If we buy one online, this is what we'll get. Southern belle dress.

Some of my friends invited me to Women of Faith this weekend but I'm really glad I didn't accept, as I would have had to bail last minute because of my back. Since I'm home, I get to shop with Kristen, and take care of the repairman going to the church to insure the coffee maker is working for Sunday. It's a beautiful, clear, sunny day here and I am looking forward to a day mostly spent at home reading.