Three other things chiropractors do when THEY have back pain.

Remember when you were a kid and you were roaming through the grocery store isles with your mom and there they were. Your teacher! Like a tear in the time/space continuum, you wondered what was going on as you tried to deal with the incongruity of the encounter.  “Yes, dear, teachers have to shop and eat too.” They don’t just live at the school grading papers and cleaning gum off the bottom of desks.

I often get that same deer in the headlights look from clients and friends alike when I mention that I too have had lower back pain. What? You are a Fort Collins chiropractor. You live in one of the healthiest places on the planet and have all the knowledge to live the model healthy life. Don’t you get adjusted? Don’t you also see a chiropractor?

Yeah but even chiropractors who practice what they preach still have hiccups and interruptions in their life that will take them to the task. And believe me, I have had my fair share of them. Over 80{45a6d239caf5e6f4a9bda45040026bf2e544857e17d2f8c0a0ce5b109ad81c69} of people in America deal with lower back pain in their life at some point.[ttshare] I would prefer to make this a one and done experience.[/ttshare] The beautiful thing is that it gives me a ton of empathy for those walking into my place wanting help with back pain, bulging disc or even sciatica.  I’ve been there, done that.

Now to be fair, I don’t live with it. I’ve experienced it, in a big way. It monopolized my life for a time. I dealt with it (I’ll get into that) and left it behind me. So how did I do it, you may ask? Let me share.

First off realize that even with all of my knowledge I am no superhuman. Maybe my understanding and priorities are a little different, but that is it. Health and healing will take the same three things from me that it will take from you. It will take time, repetition and energy.

When I woke up one un-serendipitous morning and getting out of bed my lower spine snarled at me, but I didn’t think anything of it. At that point, I did the very same thing that most people do; nothing. I took note and then got on with my day, getting ready for work.  I pushed it to the back of my mind and I pushed through. It was there and I could feel it, especially when I sat or bent over my adjusting table.

By the end of the day, I had some real pain. I couldn’t sit. I couldn’t play with the kids. I couldn’t vacuum without pain.  I had all the same choices everyone else does at this point. Of course, I visited my chiropractor and got adjusted. Your spine heals a whole lot faster and more correctly when your vertebra are aligned and pressure if off of your nerve system.

Drive your health back in the right direction

These are the additional steps I took to own and push back on my problem:

The first thing I did was rest.  I didn’t want this to grow up and follow me. I have seen this happen time and time again in those who don’t stop and take this seriously.  I rested.  I cut my exercise and physical activities to nothing but walking and stretching. I sat less and made sure I was wearing very supportive shoes, no flip flops. I certainly wasn’t going on any all day walking excursions either.
Next was ice. This will reduce inflammation and to acceptable levels so healing can take place.  I took a bag of ice everywhere. I kept it on there for about 15 minutes at a time and then let it warm back up. You don’t want to leave ice on for too long as you can get a frost burn from it. But really with the amount of inflammation that comes with a lower spine problem you are melting the ice in record time.
And my secret weapon…. Cat/Camels. I did a ton of these each day.  They are a modified yoga move sometimes called Cat/Cow. It is not a stretch or for the strength, it is pure motion. This puts motion into the joints, drives blood through your tissues reducing inflammation and pumps fluid into your discs. This is an absolute must if you have any sort of back pain. You can see them demonstrated HERE. I literally did 100 or more a day. I do these as a great daily routine for my spine.

This was my routine for six days. I was better after the first two and made leaps and bounds the next few.  I was back living life full out on the seventh day. This is no fun for anybody. What I want you to understand about this story and what I did is that there is always something you can do.  Just because I am a chiropractor Fort Collins people turn to, I still had to take responsibility, just like you. I see too many people go from just dealing with it (aka doing nothing) to getting defeated when all they can seem to get is a prescription for pain and more recurring episodes of pain. It doesn’t have to be that way. You can employ these same things that I did. What’s more, you can also get THIS simple report about the most common mistakes people make when they have lower back pain. You don’t have to live with this, you just have to take action.

For any health or spine related issues in Fort Collins or Northern Colorado, contact Inner Vitality Chiropractic and Dr. Jeremy Overholt at (970)-300-2166.