Mending

Everything is an adventure, isn't it? Even this back injury. It's annoying as hell, but it's an adventure and a chance to learn something. Allow me the mental therapy of telling this story.

I began Monday with a sharp, almost debilitating pain in the lower back. This was new because normally right out of bed I would feel pretty good. Things would take about 30 minutes to deteriorate. This time, though, it was bad right out of bed. My plan was to tough it out until my appointment at 12:30 with the chiropractor/physical therapist. An hour after getting up, I knew I couldn't make it, so I took 800mg of ibupophren. I also asked Kay to set up an appointment with my medical doctor.

By the time I got to my appointment with the chiropractor, I had my doctor's diagnosis: without seeing me and with only my wife's second-hand information, he diagnosed sciatica. The treatment was complete rest and 800mg of ibu 3 times a day. Wait it out. I passed that information on to my chiro, who respectfully, but emphatically, disagreed.

TJ, as I am allowed to call my chiro, treats hundreds of college athletes a year working with various KU teams. Most of his work with them, and me, is active release massage and physical therapy. While allowing for a remote possibility of sciatica, he pointed out that my sharpest pain was in the wrong place to be diagnosed as sciatica. Furthermore, if it was sciatica, then certain stretches would prove it by making it hurt. None of those stretches had any effect on my pain.

We went ahead with the treatment, during which, with his help, I did a real good imitation of a pretzel. He attacked my most painful spot with gusto, frequently asking me test it to see if the pain was gone. Finally, I asked him if he really expected to fix the problem and rid me of pain right then and there.

"Yes," he said. "Ninety percent of the patients who present like you I can fix in two or three sessions, tops." This was already my third session, and while things had gotten slightly better, there was still a long way to go. I was frustrated, and I could tell he was, too.

By the time he finished up, I was feeling noticeably better, but I still expected the pain to come back in full within a few minutes. We agreed to give the treatments a rest for at least a couple weeks, continue his stretches at home, and follow the doctor's suggestions.

The full pain never really returned Monday, which I attributed to the ibu more than the treatment. But on Tuesday morning, 12 hours after my last dose of pain killer, I arose without the acute pain I'd had the morning before. In fact, it never has returned. I still have sore and tight low back muscles, but that sharp pain right in the middle - the one that makes me hobble - is gone.

Does the chiro/physical therapist know what he's talking about? I'd say yes. Did his treatment work? Yes again. Do rest and anti-inflammatories make sense? I'd say yes to that, too.

I think I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. -- Rob