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My Chiropractic Story

                It’s interesting, looking back, to note how much chiropractic was in my life before I realized it.  When I was younger, my sister and I would stand on each other’s backs.  Sometimes our upper backs would “crack”.  Since a young age, I would feel like pressure in my upper back would be relieved by having my back pushed on.  My first official taste of chiropractic was during football with low back spasms, which I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts.  When I was being seen by the chiropractor, he told me my left leg was an inch shorter than the other.  He gave me exercises to perform and told gave me a certain frequency that he recommended I see him to get this fixed.  I went one other time and did the exercises and stretches as prescribed and refrained from participating in football the whole duration he recommended.  I only went one time though. 
                I was young and foolish.  In hindsight, I wish I’d have gone at least a few more times.  I don’t remember if he adjusted my upper back, I imagine he must have; he definitely adjusted my low back and neck.  After the first adjustment, I was a little sore and after the second adjustment, I guarded.  I tightened my muscles as he went to adjust my low back.  He got it to go, but I’m not sure it was as good an adjustment as it could have been, had I cooperated a little. 
                After football, I had upper back tightness pretty regularly.  My posture wasn’t very great and I wasn’t very active after high school, so it stands to reason, my spine was not as healthy as it should have been.  I’d try and get my back to crack by myself or have a friend try and get it to “crack”.  Sometimes it would work.  The other time I experienced chiropractic care, I was in undergrad, and I rolled over in bed funny in the morning.  My body turned, but my head didn’t.  It resulted in the inability for me to hold my head straight.  The term is torticollis.  Here is a photo as an example of torticollis:








It’s when your neck muscles spasm and won’t let you hold your head any other way.  Mine was on the left side. 


When I went to the chiropractor in Mankato, she put some gentle massaging machine and heat on my upper back and neck.  She then gently massaged the muscles on my neck and very, very gently adjusted my neck.  A single, loud, pop and I could hold my head up normally and had zero pain.  It was a miracle.  I only went to her the one time, because in my mind no pain=cured.
                Fast forward (past my unfounded fear of having my oldest child adjusted) to medical school in Florida.  It was an Osteopathic medical school, where they taught “manipulation” and medicine.  My upper back had become so tight and painful that I was having difficulty breathing.  It hurt between my shoulder blades to breath.  Pair that with being 50 to 60 pounds overweight and I was having trouble going up a single flight of stairs and was having panic attacks daily.  The first time I had the “Texas Twist”, a name for a manipulation technique in the upper back, performed on me by a fellow student, I literally took a giant breath and for the first time in months, if not a year, could breathe without pain. 
                It still had panic attacks and the relief was short-lived but I realized just how powerful getting motion into vertebral segments really was.  Forward still and in chiropractic school, we had to wait for classes where we were observed by faculty in order to adjust each other.  I found that if I got adjusted at least once every two weeks, my panic attacks were much less frequent. 
                Knowing now what I know, and seeing and feeling all of my issues; I wish I’d have continued care.  My upper back is a mess.  I have headaches if I go too long between adjustments and my left shoulder is noticeably higher than my right.  I’ve said before, my grandfather passed away at 95 years old and to my knowledge, never sought chiropractic care; but for me, without being adjusted regularly, I would not be able to enjoy as full a life as I do now.  Chiropractic isn’t just for pain, but there’s no denying pain symptoms are alleviated with chiropractic care.

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Location: Elk River, MN 55330, USA

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