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As you know from my 4 part Back to Basics blog posts, I had an excruciating encounter with sciatica on December 30, 2008. If you haven’t read the dramatic story of my back pain saga you may want to click here to read it before continuing:here’s the link to the beginning, from there you can follow the links to the other installments: Back To Basics

To update you on my progress, I’ve continued the story here:

I had a feeling my mid-way re-exam at the chiropractor’s office was going to be a lot different from my initial exam.  And I was right. The changes were impressive and significant.

Dr. Krieg put me on the dual scale and instead of being 13 ½ pounds heavier on my right side, I was now only 1 pound heavier on my left!  Right within normal range. Wow!  Amazing!  My hips were no longer 1 ½ inches off: I was right on even!  Overall I had improved in all areas, and some of the changes were dramatic.

At that point though, I was still having a lot of pain in my lower back and down my right leg due to the sciatic nerve.  But, the good thing was that my alignments were holding; I only had to be adjusted about once every 2 weeks. So the initial work was going well and producing the results that we wanted. I had another deep tissue massage with Robin and that really helped with the circulation in my right leg.

I kept on seeing Dr. K twice a week.  Since I was staying in alignment, Dr. K started working on my lower back.  He took me to a different table.  Here he had me lay face down and then lowered the bottom half of the table as he kept his hand on my lower back.  As he did this, my back was stretched like I have never had it stretched before.  It felt great!  Dr. K explained that the little muscles in between the vertebrae can not get stretched with conventional stretching.  This process speeds up the recovery time it would take if I was to only to do stretching on my own.

I am so pleased with how my treatment is progressing.  I feel so much better.  I hardly have any pain from the sciatica.  My right leg is still a bit tighter then the left, but not nearly as bad as a few weeks ago.  Seems like what used to take weeks to see results is now happing in a few days, I now only have to see him once a week.

He also recommended a joint formula that I have been taking for about 6 weeks. That, along with the deep stretches and running, makes me feel almost new again.

I go in for my (hopefully) last re-exam at the beginning of April.  Dr. K will take x-rays and compare them to the ones he took back at the start of the year.  I’m looking forward to seeing those.  I’ll keep you posted on the results!

How ‘bout it?

Vision Runner

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I just love this time of the year, as I’m sure most of you do.  The past few weeks have been feeling more and more like spring every day. There is a lot to be said for emerging from a long winter’s nap and sprouting into the revitalizing new life that spring brings. Makes me even more eager to get out for a run.

Spring, especially this year, has become more meaningful for me.  Coming off of a long and painful back injury that has taken most of the winter to recover from, I am ready, actually more then ready, for longer, warmer days.

Just the other day we were talking about how we haven’t seen our first robin of spring, yet.  I immediately put T and my mom on robin patrol. Obviously with my eyesight issues, it’s hard for me to see the robins, but I can definitely pick out their “Cheer up, Cheereo” song.

But even with all the running I have been doing the past couple of weeks, it was not until we were driving out to the beautiful custom house west of town we have for sale that T spotted the harbinger of spring. First robin – then another and another, and a whole bunch more.  We must have seen (and I use the words “we” and “seen” loosely – as she actually saw and I merely accepted) 15 or more robins along the road and in the fields. Very cool indeed.  A convention of robins!

Yup, spring has sprung here in Montana…How do I know?  Just a week and a half ago it was 20 degrees and snowing: a mini blizzard. Now: 55 to 60 degrees and sunny. Hey it’s Montana. If you don’t like the weather, just wait a few minutes.

And nothing says “spring in Montana” like what we saw today: a cowboy on a motorcycle, complete with denim shirt, vest and cowboy hat.

Makes you wanna get out and move, doesn’t it? If you’re looking for a half marathon or marathon training program, here’s a link to my review of The Marathon Method. Check it out.

If you’re feeling a little lethargic, and need some “get up and go” sprinkled on your corn flakes, here’s my review of the book by Paul Reese, the 73 year old who ran the equivalent of a marathon a day for 124 days. Ten Million Steps. If he can do it at 73, I’m betting you can probably do something a little less physically grueling, time-consuming and intimidating, don’t you think?

I know you all have great spring stories to share, so leave me a comment at the bottom about your favorite thing about spring or your fondest spring memory, etc.

How ‘bout it?

Vision Runner

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