Friday, February 9, 2007

My back, part 2

I had another appointment today with my new chiropractor. Did I mention I really like him? He is so nice and quite helpful fielding all my silly questions.

I got to see my x-rays today. To the untrained eye, my insides look like a disaster zone. I was gawking at the front view of my lower spine and pelvis, thinking "Is it supposed to look so BENT?" Seriously, it's as if I was doing side-bends when the darn thing was taken.

After an explanation by doc, I was right. It is really bent. It bends, from the top of my spine down, to the left and then back to the right. Almost like a modified "c". Weird. The vertebrae in my mid- and lower-back are at a weird angle because of it. And my pelvis is all out of alignment, too. Oh, and my sacrum is really funky, too. It's sticking up and out much more than normal, he said. It's supposed to follow the natural curve of the spine, and mine certainly does not.

If anyone's clueless as to what the sacrum is, here is Wikipedia's definition:

"The sacrum is a large, triangular bone at the base of the spine and at the
upper and back part of the pelvic cavity, where it is inserted like a wedge between the two hip bones. Its upper part connects with the last lumbar vertebra, and bottom part with the coccyx (tailbone)."

Anyway, he told me it will probably take a couple months of adjustments, but all my issues can be addressed and corrected so that they're not affecting my quality of life anymore. Thank goodness!!!!! I also had another adjustment today, and will likely have one Monday. AND he said I can continue running, but suggested I run on the all-weather track at the school once or twice a week instead of pounding the pavement every time out.

He said after my problems are corrected, I will only need to maintain it with visits once a month or so. And I'll likely have to have adjustments after races, but I can live with that!!

2 comments:

Jason The Running Man said...

Glad its correctable! Hang in there

TX Runner Mom said...

Wow, glad the doc said it will all be okay! I've never been to a chiropractor, but probably need to! Here's to getting everything straightened out!