Took a look at my imaging and can't think of a surgical solution.
Which is a big deal. I like it when a surgeon declines to fix a problem with surgery. That's a good thing.
But now what do I do with this back?
He's referring me to a chiroprocter and acupuncturist and a neurologist. The first two can prolly do no harm. And might help. The third tests for packet loss on my internal network. Shrug.
But hey, my neck is indeed fixed.
1) chiropractor: Look for one who has a standing x-ray system. Looking at your back while it is under normal functional stress can show more than the typical laying down. Some people can have misalignment since birth, or any type of incident that applied noteworthy force. Bear in mind that this medical area has a greater than normal degree of variability in application. In other words, it is as much an art as a science. It may take having multiple people take a shot at tweaking your problem area to find relief. This difference between them was very dramatic in my experience, even with them being trained to do things exactly the same in the same clinic.
ReplyDelete2) Acupuncture: My sister had a VERY bad case of sciatica, and she finally got relief with this, after dealing with doctors and a chiropractor. She was bent over like the Hunchback of Notre Dame when she got to trying this.
3) Neurologist: Instead of this specially, I would suggest looking for a good Physiatrist (sports medicine doctor). I worked with one, and as part of his investigation he did a number of those tests to see how bad I was affected (he had that equipment in his clinic). I think partly those tests may have been done to justify to the insurance that his services were necessary. This attempt was the single most effective fix for my back problems. With the data from these tests and the 2 MRI's, he crafted a physical therapy routine that finally addressed the problem. THe chiropractor was mostly used for regular "tuneups", until I figured out how to replicate their adjustments on myself. The PT took maybe three months to take me from not being able to carry or move any weight, to being back on a motorcycle. Dramatic change for the better!
Physiatrist was on the Brain Surgeon's list after we get results from that Neurologist
ReplyDeleteWant the doc that fixed me for a second opinion?
ReplyDeleteI have seen acupuncture work wonders on very skeptical people. A friend went from constant pain and difficulty walking (he got blown up a little), to walking normally with very little pain after his first treatment. It doesn't last forever, but does work long enough to get you into the physical therapy to help address the real problems.
ReplyDeleteCouple tales about chiropractors:
ReplyDeleteTook a gun class, and during a break we got to talking about them. Instructor told about the time he had his guy over to the house for an adjustment. (That was due to him tearing up some tissue when he lifted a vehicle off a co-worker after it punched through the wall and hit them.) His infant was crying, and he related to the 'practor that the child didn't sleep well and cried a lot. He asked the father if it would be okay to adjust the child. When he was done, the child had a big smile, and quickly fell asleep, and afterwards began sleeping at night. 'Practor stated that lots of the infant's skeleton gets displaced during the birth, and doesn't always go back to where it should be. Up til then, it was a very unhappy kid.
He started seeing a chiropractor after that crash incident. Stated that he was in such bad shape after healing, that he couldn't shoot or draw well enough to continue instructing. He was told that his bones were out of position when he healed, and that he had to get some of them re-positioned for proper healing. It took a while, but he got back to where he started at. Bodybuilder physique. I could see him lifting a portion of a car.
At a clinic that I went to, the workers told me that sometimes patients would bring in their cat or dog for an adjustment. This was generally in an attempt to help them after a fall or collision, and their vet couldn't help. They said the most common situation was problems with their hind legs, to where they couldn't walk normally. High success rate for getting noticeable improvements with the first adjustment.