On Wednesday, I had my first follow-up with the chiropractor after my initial consultation the week before. We reviewed my x-rays that I had after the consultation and the verdict is in regarding my lower back pain:
Arthritis plus a possible slight bulging disc
She said she wasn’t concerned about the disc, and that we can’t do anything about the arthritis I already have, but she’s going to help me strengthen my core more to prevent it getting any worse. After she gave me my first adjustment (horrifying by the way), she had me meet with her in-house CES and he gave me some stomach bracing exercises to work on, as well as some hip flexor stretches and a specific crunch to do on the foam roller that is designed to crack my back.
I’m optimistic now, but also discouraged with such a diagnosis. I didn’t expect her to say anything like that. I really wish now that my rheumatologist had done an x-ray as well and caught this when I started seeing her a couple of years ago instead of diagnosing it as “chronic myofascial pain”.
It’s kind of hard to remember everything she pointed out to me on my x-ray, especially since I can’t view the x-ray from the disc I received, but this is *kind of* similar to my x-ray.
The area between 4/5 and under 5 is where my issue is
Things I remember her mentioning are the “cloudiness” at the bottom where the arthritis was and the amount of space between my lower vertebrae vs the ones above it. She gave me a lot of information and I think I was kind of shocked and probably missed some of what she was saying while I tried to pay attention. It just makes me feel like I’m 90 or something.
The adjustment part of the appointment is really scary when you need to lay a certain way and she basically jumps up and pushes down on me. Hysterical! I thought I was going to fall off the table, but she promised she wouldn’t let me fall. We’ll see how those go and what her plan is for me going forward, but I like the exercises they’ve given me so far – they feel really good!
I plan on doing everything I can between visits. She told the receptionist to schedule me twice a week for 3 weeks, but I can’t afford that. I barely have enough to swing once a week, but I’m going to do once a week for the 3 weeks and see where we land after that. I’m hoping from there on out I could maybe go once a month for an adjustment if needed.
Anyone else have any experience with this that you’d care to share?
Don't blink. Just run. 