So last Thursday I went out for my morning run. I was supposed to run 5 miles at a quick pace, but I had gotten up late and was feeling pretty tired. I settled on a 3-4 mile run at whatever pace felt comfortable. It was cooler than normal on that morning and since I was already late I failed to stretch and warm-up as much as I should have. I got my iPod started, press the start button on my stopwatch and started off on a pretty leisurely jog. I was even kind of shocked at how slow I was running, but honestly I didn't feel as though I could go any faster. then just a couple of hundred yards into my run I got a real shock.
I remember it so clearly. Absolutely nothing was out of the ordinary. The road was relatively flat; there weren't any cracks or uneven spots. I didn't trip on my own feet or get startled by a unseen dog. I was just running at an ordinary gait and when my right foot struck the ground, an "electric" pulse shot down my right leg and up my back. Now, it seems like the feeling lasted forever, but at the time it was over before I knew what had happened. I stopped jogging immediately, thought to myself "that was weird", stretched down to my toes a couple of times, stood up and twisted from side to side, and then went off running again.
But everything had changed. I no longer felt like I had an ordinary stride. I felt like I was hunched over, and some smaller shocks ran through my leg and spine. I turned around and walked home. By the time I got there my back had really started to tighten up. I lay on the floor and tried to stretch but nothing was helping. I stayed home from work for the next 2 days, laying on my back, switching back and forth between ice packs and a heating pad. Eventually, Katie found me some drugs so I could at least move a bit more, but really all I did was sleep. I lasted through the weekend, but by Monday I was tired of feeling this way and I had to get back to work. I struggled through the workday and called a chiropractor, our friend Dr. Clint Jackson. Clint got me in to see him, ran a couple of tests and performed some maintenance adjustments until he could confirm my condition. the next day he confirmed that I had a pinched nerve in my lower back (and a couple of other places), he performed a couple of manipulations, and by the next morning I honestly felt better. I am going to see Dr. Jackson frequently over the next 4 weeks leading up to the half marathon. I am certain he has me on the mends and soon I will be back to running (which I haven't done since that Thursday morning!). Thank you, Clint!
I had to jump through a couple of hoops to get approved for chiropractic care by my insurance company. It really wasn't too awful, but it just seems so ridiculous to me. It makes so much sense that regular chiropractic care helps the body to fight off disease and leads to an overall healthier body, which would actually save the insurance companies and you and I quite a bit of money. But instead the insurance company would much rather pay for a cortisol shot or muscle relaxers, since I wouldn't even need a referral to get one of those.
Anyway, if my posts seem to be few and far between it's because I am spending my lunch hours getting my back cracked by Dr. Clint!
No comments:
Post a Comment