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As most of you know, I was struck with lower right back pain after a sneeze at the end of last year.  They diagnosed the lower right back pain as sciatica on December 30th. Since then I have been going to see my chiropractor Dr. Krieg.  It’s been just over 3 months now and I’m feeling really good and the lower right back pain is all gone. 

For a while there I wasn’t so sure how this was all going to work out.  Dr. K was aligning my upper cervical vertebrae when all my pain was lower right back pain creeping down into my right leg.  It didn’t really make a lot of sense to me, and the sciatica was intense and painful.  But I trusted that the doctor knew what he was doing, and he explained that if he didn’t start by getting my head and neck into alignment, nothing else would ever be quite right, and even if we fixed the lower right back pain for now, it could re-occur. 

Once I was past the worst of the lower right back pain and I got the go ahead to start running again several weeks ago, I was ecstatic to get out there and hit the pavement.  But as soon as I started running I found that my right calf muscle would get really tight and it caused the runs to be way less enjoyable. Don’t get me wrong, I was still glad to be able to get out there and run again once the chance of re-injury was past, pain or no pain. But the tight calf muscle hampered my enthusiasm somewhat.

Well it’s now been over a month since I’ve been able to run again, and each day that I run I can feel myself getting stronger and faster. And I haven’t had the lower right back pain come back.

But I must admit for a while I was wondering what he had done to me!  Was being in alignment messing up my running?  It sure felt that way my first few weeks. 

When I mentioned this to Dr. K, he told us a story about a guy he treated who was ranked in the top ten nationally in archery.  He had taken up archery later in life and had done very well, and was hoping to gain the title of National Champion, but could never place higher than about fourth place in the national events. 

After Dr. K started adjusting him, he found that he could not hit the broad side of a barn.  He asked “What the heck have you done to me?!”  Dr. Krieg told him that since he had been living out of alignment for so long, his body had compensated all these years for it, but now he was getting his body back into the alignment where he needed to be. It would take his body and his shooting some time to adjust to the new (proper) alignment.

Some time after that he was shooting better then he ever had. And the guy went on to win a national archery championship! Had he chosen to just live with his body out of alignment, he probably would have never realized his true potential.

With that story in mind, I realized that my body had to learn how to run again with the correct alignment, instead of the way it had been running (13.5 lbs heavy on the right side) for years and years.  So now that I’m running in alignment, I guess that means I’m on my way to realizing my true potential. Hey!  Maybe I’ll break my PB of 2:02 in the half marathon this year.

How ‘bout it?

-Vision Runner

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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

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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

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