Runner Insight

^ Click Arrow To Listen

I was still limping from the tightness of my sciatica, but it was improving.  The doctor gave me about 4 stretches to do for my back and hip where the sciatic nerve runs through.  One of the stretches makes me laugh every time I do it.  I get down on my hands and knees letting my back sag with my tummy dropping as far down as possible.  Then I arch my back up like a Halloween cat…Making the appropriate hissing sound to go along with it, just for fun!

I continued to see Dr Krieg three times a week, and I stayed in adjustment for the most part, maybe a little off every three or four visits or so. After a couple of weeks of getting me aligned, and me continuing to apply the Bio-Freeze and do my stretches, my right leg was still really tight and I was still limping around on it.  It was a bit frustrating, but I had learned that sciatica is one of those mystery ailments that seem to be on their own time table.  But as I said, each day was better.

My right leg was now feeling like it was getting more numb than tight.  And my right foot would get very cold, while my left was nice and toasty.  I told Dr. Krieg about this.  The good news was that after a couple of weeks, the alignment was holding for the most part, with occasional minor adjustments every few days.  So when he checked my alignment and I was still looking good, he began to work on my sciatic nerve on my right leg with pressure point therapy. 

Painful doesn’t even begin to describe how it felt when he was pressing on my leg, but I knew when it was done it would feel better.  He explained that he couldn’t work on my sciatic nerve before, because it would have been way too sensitive or “hot” as he put it.  That made sense as I could hardly stand the pain as it was after a couple of weeks of healing and adjustments.  But after that session my leg did feel a lot better. 

At this point, I have been going to see Dr. Krieg for about a month.  I’m seeing him a couple of times a week now. We’re going to have my re-exam this week, and we’ll see how much better everything is. I’m sure the results will show that I’m nowhere close to an inch and a half off from my left hip to my right hip, and hopefully my weight is more balanced on my left and right side. My leg is doing much better, just a slight limp and tightness.  I did have a couple of deep tissue massages with Robin where she mainly worked on my right glut and upper back and neck where I have been getting adjusted.  That really has helped expedite the healing process in my leg, as it no longer feels numb or cold.  I may have another one soon.

I’m not back to running yet, but I’m sure as I continue to see Dr Krieg over the next several weeks, he’ll have me back in my running shoes just in time for the beautiful spring weather.

So this brings me to why I named this blog “Back to Basics.”  For years I have been ignoring my back.  I was not doing the things that I knew I should be doing to insure I would have a strong and healthy core.  I suffered for that when I ran my first marathon, and now with my lower back and the sciatica. It’s horrible to be disabled and unable to do the every day things you enjoy…like sitting and standing!  

I am now a newly-converted believer in good chiropractic care.  And not just when your back hurts, but getting a screening and making sure everything is working the way it is supposed to.  It’s all about being proactive in my health and well being.  Wellness instead of sickness!

This is a continuing process and I will be sharing my progress with you as I go along.  Oh yeah Dr. Krieg also holds wellness classes every month at his clinic that we’re planning on attending.  They sound like just what we are looking for: planning for a healthier life style.

How ‘bout it?

 -Vision Runner

Popularity: 2% [?]

^ Click Arrow To Listen

For my first adjustment, we were led into one of the adjusting rooms.  Dr. Krieg had me stand at the foot of an upright exam table that was positioned vertically.  He then lowered it as I laid on it face down so that it laid me down from my natural standing position.  As I lay face down on the table, he had me bend my knees up and back down.  Then turn my head to the right and then to the left, and back to center, looking down toward the floor.  He then asked T if she could see my legs.  She said yes, even from across the room she could see the difference in my leg lengths.  My right leg was 1½ inches shorter then my left!  When he pulled my right leg down to where it matched up with my left, boy did that feel weird and uncomfortable.

He then raised the exam table up, and we moved over to a very low adjusting table.  It was only about a foot off the ground. He positioned me on my left side with my head in a donut like pillow.  He did some adjusting of my head and then applied pressure to my head with his hand and I felt a slight drop and the table make a loud POP…But it was the table, not my neck. 

It didn’t hurt. In fact it didn’t feel like much of anything really except a firm but gentle and non-violent push to my head.  That was it.  We then were shown to the resting room where for 15 minutes I reclined and relaxed. T was having fun with all the different massage settings on her recliner.  

When we left the chiropractor’s office, I didn’t feel much different.  However later that night watching TV, I started to have some bad indigestion. I never have indigestion, but it was bad enough that I took a couple of chewable antacid tablets…although it was clear to me that the Maalox was not going to even touch it. I have never really had problems with indigestion before. It was awful. 

In fact, if we hadn’t known that this could be a side effect of being adjusted, I would have sworn I was having a heart attack, that’s how bad it was.  Finally I had an inspired thought to lay on my trusty ottoman with the heating pad on my chest and stomach, and T and I did some Theta Healing on it.

Finally, finally, after what seemed like hours of indigestion (in actuality, it was probably about an hour or so) I got some relief from the awful heartburn!  And thankfully, it didn’t come back. 

Before bed I used some of the Bio-Freeze that we got in sample packets from the chiropractor.  It’s a natural ointmet like Icy Hot or Myo-Flex or Ben Gay, but natural, without the chemicals.  It smells like Vicks Vapo-Rub, but for only a few minutes, then the smell dissipates.  I used it on my neck and shoulders, and also applied some to my lower back and hip of my right leg.  Boy, the effect was almost immediate and lasted for hours.  I love this stuff!  Barkeep….Bio-Freeze for everyone!!  (Actually I tried to get some sample packets from the Bio-Freeze company cause I wanted to offer to send samples to you, my blog readers, if you wanted to try it, but the company only gives samples to health care professionals…and I guess being a Call System Operator at the hospital and a blind runner who blogs doesn’t really count. Oh well. “C’est la vie” say the old folks…)

The next day at the chiropractor’s office, I told Dr. Krieg of my indigestion reaction to the adjustment yesterday.  He was delighted that I had some sort of reaction because this meant that things were happening.  After all, the spine is the nervous system’s super highway.  All our nerves come from the spine, and by making a cervical adjustment to a spine that has been out of alignment for over 20 years, it would have been surprising and even a little disappointing if I didn’t have a reaction.

So once again he had me stand next to the exam table and layed me face down on it.  After he had me do all the head movements left and right, and bending of my knees, my right leg was almost even with my left this time!  Maybe a ¼ inch difference. What a dramatic change! 

Overnight!

After just one adjustment…

Come back for more on Friday….

While fixing sciatica is a process, we’ll get you caught up to current on my whole back pain/sciatica healing journey.

See you on Friday…

How ‘bout it?

-Vision Runner

Popularity: 2% [?]

 ^ Click Arrow To Listen

Imagine you’re in bed one morning, and you sneeze.  Now that may not seem significantly life-altering, and you may be asking yourself (or me), “So what?”  Well, that was the catalyst that sent my back into some sort of spasm on Dec 30^th, the day before New Year’s Eve this winter. 

I had been having some mild lower back pain off and on for the past couple of weeks, but I thought it was from shoveling snow. But this pain resulting from an innocent little sneeze was something entirely different from just sore muscles. 

I hadn’t really ever had serious back pain before, so needless to say, I was concerned.  I rolled myself out of bed, but found the pain too severe to stand, let alone walk!  I ended up crawling, and feeling faint and sick from the pain. Okay this was not going well at all. And all this from just one little well-intentioned sneeze…who knew how fragile we are?

I managed to get dressed in my sweats and then crawled like a lumbering tortoise to the living room, (I swear it was literally that slow) where I tried to sit in the recliner.  That lasted less than a minute, as the pain in my lower back and right leg was way too much when I was in an upright sitting position. I got back down on the floor on my hands and knees and curled up like a rolly-polly bug. This was the only position I could tolerate.

My partner, obviously concerned that I was rolling around the floor like a beach ball, asked if we should maybe go to the E.R.? Of course I said no at first…I almost always do.  But upon consideration, realizing that there was no way I could work in this condition, I soon agreed.

But first I wanted to take a shower.

“What? Why? Let’s just throw a hat on your head, brush your teeth, and call it good. Nobody cares. Besides, you can’t even stand up. How are you going to take a shower?” 

Good point. 

I managed to get into the front seat, and was instantly sorry for that decision.  I endured the agony of the seated position for a couple of minutes. Then a couple of blocks later at a stop sign, I crawled into the back seat, and resumed my fetal position.

Since I had been curled up like a rolly-polly bug in the back seat for the 10 to 15 minute ride, by the time we got to the hospital my back didn’t feel so bad. As we entered the hospital, I was walking nearly normally. I said, “Maybe I’ll be okay. Let’s go home.”  Since I previously hadn’t been able to sit without excruciating pain, T, in her infinite wisdom, told me to sit down in the wheelchair at the Emergency Room entrance to see how my back felt.  The instant I sat down, I could feel my back start to pull and the pain seared my back again and continued down my right leg. That decision made, we proceeded to the E.R. check in. 

There was no one in front of us, and I was processed quickly.  A nurse named Kim took my blood pressure and my history, as she helped me get comfortable on the exam bed. Lying on my left side, with a pillow between my knees helped to relieve the pain a little.

Dr. Westin would be coming on shift in 15 minutes. It would be faster to wait for him, than have the other ER doctor see me, as he had 8 patients in his care at the moment.  So we were happy to wait a few minutes.  As promised, the Doctor arrived in the exam room in about 15 minutes. 

He had me lie on my back and raise each leg, while he gently pushed down.  When I raised my right leg, it was painful.  He looked at my back and had me get up and do some bends. He came to the conclusion that it was my sciatic nerve.

He thought that I may have had some injury to my disk causing the nerve to become irritated and inflamed.  He prescribed steroids, pain killers and muscle relaxants. He told us his mother-in-law was now his best friend after she had sciatica and he prescribed steroids. He reassured me that they should start to kick in within a day or so.  He told me the sciatica didn’t seem too severe yet, but if I had weakness in my legs to come back right away.

So with Rx in hand, we left the ER and went to the Pharmacy.  It was going to be about 20 minutes for the prescription to get filled. I was of course tucked away in the back of the van, starting to feel pretty good from the pain killer I was given in the ER, so I could stand to wait 20 minutes or so. 

We decided to drive over to the Post Office to pick up our mail while we were waiting, since it was only a few blocks away.  When T came back to the car with the mail, she mentioned that we had received what looked like a gift from our Financial Advisor, Judy.  I figured maybe it was a calendar, as she gave my mom one. 

 “No,” T said, “It feels more like a box of chocolates.” 

 Chocolate? Did someone say chocolate?

Still in my curled up position on the back seat, I insisted on having the package. T passed it back to me, and I ripped into it like a hungry monkey…Hey my back hurt, not my stomach! 

Now with pain pills and chocolate on board I was pretty much set, life was good…Pain pills talking… except for my Starbucks…which we had to stop for on the way home. Now life was complete…

When we got back home, T made me a cozy cocoon on the couch where I stayed for most of the day, dozing on and off. 

Part two will be coming on Monday…so stay tuned!!

How ‘bout it?

-Vision Runner

Popularity: 25% [?]