Please read earlier stories if you haven’t already
I returned back to the chiropractic office on a day where I was having severe neck muscle spasms and a deep headache stretching from what felt like the back of my eye to below my ear – my sinuses above my eyes were twitching – I must have looked awful.
I was nauseated and nervous – very afraid they would tell me there was nothing they could do. I clearly remember these feelings – it was September 2009. My name was called and my husband and I were brought back.
The doctor looked at me and said, “We are very, very grateful to have found you when we did. You need to be here.” I did not take it as a sales pitch or a command – it was crystal clear that I was profoundly in need of help. It was warm in the room but I was shaking.
I asked one question, “Can I be helped here?”
She replied, “You can still be helped with chiropractic care. It is not going to be easy for you and I do not think a full recovery is possible. But you’re young and a lot can be improved.”
I felt weak in the knees as she pulled up my x-ray. There were lines drawn on it and a “normal” neck image was placed next to mine. There were significant differences between the two. We were standing – I had to sit. My neck muscles were throbbing.
“You have a 165% loss of strength and reverse curvature in your neck. This means it is twisted severely and your neck is actually bending backwards. You have 90 pounds of extra pressure on your spine from holding your head 25 millimeters (1 inch) too far forward.”
She demonstrated on me how I could not even hold my head up, even with applied pressure. I am sure she wondered how I was even having a normal life. I am a happy person and I would consider my life on the low side of normal stress – I have two kids, run a business out of my home and do what most 30-somethings do. I even exercise regularly – with pain and a lot of muscle soreness.
But I knew I wasn’t normal on the inside – it was now being shown to me in black and white. The doctor continued – there was more bad news.
“You are already forming tiny spurs – these spinal bones should be square and you can see they clearly are changing. The spaces between bones is decreasing – you can see in some places dangerously close. There is very little, probably sometimes no space, where your neck and shoulders meet, creating incredible compression on your nervous system.”
Yeah, I felt that – especially those times when my head wouldn’t move and my shoulder blades would feel like I had been stabbed by a knife.
“How did I get this way? Why didn’t my other chiropractor bring this up?” I asked.
I was told there are two types of chiropractors and they did “wellness” chiropratic. It requires a treatment plan with frequent visits (3x/wk) for 3 months and then 2x/week and then 1x/week and then much less frequent than that. Exercises would be assigned with equipment to take home and regular information would be given to us in handouts plus free workshops.
I would have to come three times a week! Where was I going to find time for that? Well, if I was committed to changing my spine, it was necessary. So, I needed to find out how much this was going to cost me. We received the information and I signed up for care.
My treatment journey began…
