Training hiatus/detour - My current situation

**davtown** · 12-19-2006, 06:27 AM

I finally paid a visit to a chiropractor today - I've been meaning to see him for a long time now as he came highly recommended to me by someone I trust, and I figured he could probably help me given his 40+ years of experience. The last time I had been to a chiropractor was about a year ago, and although I had a decent experience there, I knew it was time to find go to the right guy. As a side note, my new doctor's name is Dr. Bliss - very appropriate

For those who don't know, I have constant discomfort in my lower back (injury from Summer 2005), as well as constant discomfort (and often pain) in my neck and middle back (between the shoulder blades) from a Summer 2004 injury. I discussed my issues with him, as well as a few other things (nutrition, weight training, my future career as a chiropractor)

One thing I really liked about this guy was that he explained everything he was doing before he did it. He had me sit down and take off my shirt so that he could get some readings with a heat sensor device. The device slowly made it's way up my the center of my back, from the bottom up, and detected any heat that my back was giving off. Apparently, this was meant to show which areas were problem areas - not surprisingly, my upper neck was the area that gave the most significant readings on the chart.

Next we took some X-Rays. One from the front, one from the side, and a few of my neck. He developed them and we had a look, which confirmed both his and my suspicions - I had a severe misalignment in both my C1 (atlas) and C2 (axis) vertebrae, and to add to it, they were both misaligned in opposite directions! Instead of doing what people generally think of as a neck adjustment (grabbing the head and twisting and turning), he had me lie down on my side and placed his finger on the misaligned atlas with my head supported on a headrest ready to 'drop'. He explained exactly what he was going to do beforehand, and then went ahead with the adjustment - no twisting of the head or neck, just a simple, precise nudge to get that bone where it should be. (For those unfamiliar, a drop table is a table in which specific areas can be set up to literally 'drop' as the adjustment is applied - they are used so that as the chiropractor applies the adjustment, most of the force is absorbed by the table, resulting in a much gentler, equally effective adjustment.)

That was the only adjustment he made today - he wanted to see how the aligning of the atlas bone would affect the rest of the spine. I'm going back on Wednesday so he can recheck me. He is also a pretty conservative chiropractor - if he checks you out and you don't need an adjustment, he will not give one. He believes that many chiropractors are 'adjustment happy' so to say, whereas he goes by a very precise approach. Each adjustment he makes has a strong purpose. In fact, if he does not believe that he can help you in the first place, then he will turn you away!

OK, onto the training part!

He told me that I should lay off of training for about a week, including running. He gave me the OK to go for walks, but told me to lay off on strenous activity such as weightlifting or running until my body get's used to it's new environment. He said that after my week off, I can start lifting again on a revised regiment for a few weeks, eventually working back to where I was before I came in. This is fine with me as my longterm health is far more important than heavy training right now, and since I'm young, any gains I may lose will be quickly recovered. Slow and steady wins the race. Due to my conditions in my middle back, he also advised me against movements that have both of my scapulae squeezing in at the same time - for example, he advised me to switch to front squats instead of back squats. He also advised me to not go all the way down on bench/dumbell presses to the point where my both my scapulae are squeezing in, and if I wanted to go that far down, do it unilaterally with dumbells so that only one scapula is squeezing back at a time. Same thing with bb/db rows. Also told me not to do pulldowns or overhead presses behind the neck for the same reason.

OK, the good news! He said that the way my lumbar spine sits in relation to my pelvis makes for a very strong foundation, which I am happy with. I was also worried that with the discomfort I have in my lower back, that perhaps I had some degenerating discs, but when we looked at the x-rays, they showed as looking normal and healthy. The only major distrubance in my spine was in my upper neck area. Perhaps the most difficult part so far has been refraining from cracking my back and neck - he strongly advised me against this for several reasons, and even though it is a complete, complusive habit at this point, I have refrained from doing so! I'm actually very proud of myself there because that's something that I would do A LOT!

He believes that within 7-8 visits he can help me tremendously, and I have a lot of faith in him. He was kind and sincere, we talked extensively and he explained everything of concern to me. I was also pleased to find out that he was not completely clueless on weight training, and when we reviewed my diet, he was thankful that he did not need to educate me on that aspect. I was also pleased to hear that he encouraged moderate use of protein powder! Not often you hear a doctor say that.

Sorry for the long post everybody, I thought it was necessary to explain everything that was going on with me at the moment. Thanks to anyone who read all of this, I'll keep you all updated on my progress and I can't wait to get back to my normal training routine again!

**bubba g** · 12-19-2006, 08:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davtown

I finally paid a visit to a chiropractor today - I've been meaning to see him for a long time now as he came highly recommended to me by someone I trust, and I figured he could probably help me given his 40+ years of experience. The last time I had been to a chiropractor was about a year ago, and although I had a decent experience there, I knew it was time to find go to the right guy. As a side note, my new doctor's name is Dr. Bliss - very appropriate

For those who don't know, I have constant discomfort in my lower back (injury from Summer 2005), as well as constant discomfort (and often pain) in my neck and middle back (between the shoulder blades) from a Summer 2004 injury. I discussed my issues with him, as well as a few other things (nutrition, weight training, my future career as a chiropractor)

One thing I really liked about this guy was that he explained everything he was doing before he did it. He had me sit down and take off my shirt so that he could get some readings with a heat sensor device. The device slowly made it's way up my the center of my back, from the bottom up, and detected any heat that my back was giving off. Apparently, this was meant to show which areas were problem areas - not surprisingly, my upper neck was the area that gave the most significant readings on the chart.

Next we took some X-Rays. One from the front, one from the side, and a few of my neck. He developed them and we had a look, which confirmed both his and my suspicions - I had a severe misalignment in both my C1 (atlas) and C2 (axis) vertebrae, and to add to it, they were both misaligned in opposite directions! Instead of doing what people generally think of as a neck adjustment (grabbing the head and twisting and turning), he had me lie down on my side and placed his finger on the misaligned atlas with my head supported on a headrest ready to 'drop'. He explained exactly what he was going to do beforehand, and then went ahead with the adjustment - no twisting of the head or neck, just a simple, precise nudge to get that bone where it should be. (For those unfamiliar, a drop table is a table in which specific areas can be set up to literally 'drop' as the adjustment is applied - they are used so that as the chiropractor applies the adjustment, most of the force is absorbed by the table, resulting in a much gentler, equally effective adjustment.)

That was the only adjustment he made today - he wanted to see how the aligning of the atlas bone would affect the rest of the spine. I'm going back on Wednesday so he can recheck me. He is also a pretty conservative chiropractor - if he checks you out and you don't need an adjustment, he will not give one. He believes that many chiropractors are 'adjustment happy' so to say, whereas he goes by a very precise approach. Each adjustment he makes has a strong purpose. In fact, if he does not believe that he can help you in the first place, then he will turn you away!

OK, onto the training part!

He told me that I should lay off of training for about a week, including running. He gave me the OK to go for walks, but told me to lay off on strenous activity such as weightlifting or running until my body get's used to it's new environment. He said that after my week off, I can start lifting again on a revised regiment for a few weeks, eventually working back to where I was before I came in. This is fine with me as my longterm health is far more important than heavy training right now, and since I'm young, any gains I may lose will be quickly recovered. Slow and steady wins the race. Due to my conditions in my middle back, he also advised me against movements that have both of my scapulae squeezing in at the same time - for example, he advised me to switch to front squats instead of back squats. He also advised me to not go all the way down on bench/dumbell presses to the point where my both my scapulae are squeezing in, and if I wanted to go that far down, do it unilaterally with dumbells so that only one scapula is squeezing back at a time. Same thing with bb/db rows. Also told me not to do pulldowns or overhead presses behind the neck for the same reason.

OK, the good news! He said that the way my lumbar spine sits in relation to my pelvis makes for a very strong foundation, which I am happy with. I was also worried that with the discomfort I have in my lower back, that perhaps I had some degenerating discs, but when we looked at the x-rays, they showed as looking normal and healthy. The only major distrubance in my spine was in my upper neck area. Perhaps the most difficult part so far has been refraining from cracking my back and neck - he strongly advised me against this for several reasons, and even though it is a complete, complusive habit at this point, I have refrained from doing so! I'm actually very proud of myself there because that's something that I would do A LOT!

He believes that within 7-8 visits he can help me tremendously, and I have a lot of faith in him. He was kind and sincere, we talked extensively and he explained everything of concern to me. I was also pleased to find out that he was not completely clueless on weight training, and when we reviewed my diet, he was thankful that he did not need to educate me on that aspect. I was also pleased to hear that he encouraged moderate use of protein powder! Not often you hear a doctor say that.

Sorry for the long post everybody, I thought it was necessary to explain everything that was going on with me at the moment. Thanks to anyone who read all of this, I'll keep you all updated on my progress and I can't wait to get back to my normal training routine again!

Let me know how it goes.. I have issues with my neck, and back as well... all from a truck accident.. I was a passinger in an 18 wheeler, and it jack knifed... neck has hurt every day since...

**A.FreeRadical** · 12-19-2006, 09:35 AM

It is nice to hear that you are getting good results and good advice. A competent chiropractic doctor can do wonders. I'll watch this post to see how it is going.

Good luck.

*

**romanaz** · 12-19-2006, 03:25 PM

nice, I love my chiro, he does wonders for me :-D

**davtown** · 12-20-2006, 09:37 PM

Thanks for following along fellas. Well here's what has happened so far - I had my initial appointment/adjustment on Monday and my doc told me not to do any rigorous physical activity to allow the bones to settle. Monday evening and all of Tuesday, my pain did not diminish (although we must understand here that pain is a symptom, not the problem). The pain in my middle back between my shoulder blades has always primarily been on the left side, however since my adjustment it has spread over to the right side as well. I knew this was a good sign because it meant that the pain was diffusing and the bones in my middle back had begun to settle into a more neutral position, forcing the connective tissue to adjust to the new environment.

Most people would never associate a spreading pain with a positive event, however I understand that this is part of a longterm process and I must look at it from a different perspective. The body always strives for homeostasis - a stable, constant condition - no matter how damaging, disruptive, or dangerous that condition is. For a long time, my body was used to several misaligned vertebrae, in this example my middle back, between my shoulder blades. When this new environment is forced upon my body, this creates a disturbance from what it is used to, and although the new environment is positive and beneficial, the body may not be very receptive of it. This disturbance and subsequent forced adaptation of the tendons, ligaments, and muscles surrounding the vertebrae are the cause of this slight increase in pain.

Fast forward to today - when I woke up this morning, the 'extra pain' that I was referring to was gone and I could feel some relief in the area between my shoulder blades. The condition of my lower back is unchanged so far from where we started at the beginning of this journey. I was supposed to have jury duty today, however when I called last night I was informed that I was not to come... excellent. I called up the doc and made an appointment for 12:30PM.

I get to the doctor's office (which is only a few minutes from my house, no freeway driving needed - very convenient), and we get to business. He asks me how I'm feeling and I tell him what's going on... he proceeds to do a few tests. He did the heat test again, except this time only on my neck to see how it responded to the adjustment. He then had me lie face down on a table and noted that my hips were level (they were previously out of whack), and then did a few movement tests on me, one of which included me turning my head to the left, and then he slightly pushed my feet and legs towards the top of my body. He then did the same with my head turned to the right. When we ran this test on Monday, I had extra tension during this test when I had my head turned to the right, however today, everything felt neutral - nothing abnormal this time around. After those results, plus the results from the heat scanner, he was glad to see that the adjustment in my neck had held up well.

I recieved one adjustment today at the base of my spine (L5). I immediately felt some relief in my lower lumbar region and he had me walk around the office briefly. I was very pleased with today's adjustment, and although the condition of my upper lumbar/lower thoracic region is still unchanged, my lower lumbar is much improved and I am excited for the next step.

The doc also cleared me to do aerobics beyond walking - meaning I can go for a run or a bike ride now. Thanks again to anyone that sticks through this journey with me and follows my progress!

**romanaz** · 12-20-2006, 09:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davtown

and then he slightly pushed my feet and legs towards the top of my body.

sounds kinky

**bubba g** · 12-20-2006, 09:52 PM

sounds promising so far..

**davtown** · 12-20-2006, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bubba g

Let me know how it goes.. I have issues with my neck, and back as well... all from a truck accident.. I was a passinger in an 18 wheeler, and it jack knifed... neck has hurt every day since...

That sounds very painful, Bubba, I'm sorry to hear about that. That must have been a very intense experience! That trauma very likely could have caused some pretty harsh misalignemnts in your neck vertebrae, resulting not only in pain, but perhaps other seemingly unrelated issues as well. So much is controlled by your spinal nerves, it is really incredible. If you do make the decision to see a chiro, please talk to me first - there are some wackjobs out there and I would be glad to help you know what to look for and what to look out for.

**skelooth** · 12-20-2006, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davtown

One thing I really liked about this guy was that he explained everything he was doing before he did it. He had me sit down and take off my shirt so that he could get some

true story

**bubba g** · 12-20-2006, 11:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davtown

That sounds very painful, Bubba, I'm sorry to hear about that. That must have been a very intense experience! That trauma very likely could have caused some pretty harsh misalignemnts in your neck vertebrae, resulting not only in pain, but perhaps other seemingly unrelated issues as well. So much is controlled by your spinal nerves, it is really incredible. If you do make the decision to see a chiro, please talk to me first - there are some wackjobs out there and I would be glad to help you know what to look for and what to look out for.

I went to a chiro right after the accident at the suggestion of a lawyer, and I think he hurt me more than he helped.. I think he probably could help me more now, than right after teh accident... I was way to sore at the time to be having adjstments..

**davtown** · 01-23-2007, 06:06 AM

OK, I have not updated this in a while... now that I'm off of break and back to school, I'm going to update it again to give me a reason to procrastinate. My entries won't be as long though.....

Here's a summary of what has happened so far.

-Went to chiro with chronic back (lower + mid) and neck pain.
-Took x-rays and thermoscribe readings (thermoscribe is a device that measures heat given off by body. run it along the spine to see the areas out of alignment)
-developed xrays on the spot
-both xrays and thermoscribe confirmed what we both though to be true - severe misalignments in my upper neck. Some in my mid back and lower back, but my neck was the biggest problem area.

**davtown** · 01-23-2007, 06:11 AM

Week 1 - this was my first week and I saw him 3 times... M / W / F

Monday 12/18/06
-this was my initial visit where I was examined.
-one adjustment made to my upper neck (C2 - axis, the second bone of the spine) no twisting or turning of the neck, just a firm, gentle, and precise nudge.
-told me to not train with weights for a bit and to keep cardio to walking for now

Wednesday 12-20-06
-took thermoscribe of my neck to see how adjustment was holding up.... it was holding up well
-made one adjustment to lowest vertebrae of spine (L5)
-experienced immediate relief in very lower portion of back
-mid back and main low back region (upper lumbar/lower thoracic) remained in pain

Friday 12-22-06
-thermoscribe reading on neck, adjustment holding up well
-made an adjustment to my mid back. spine was translated forward a tad too much, so he nudged it back into place
-cleared me to start up running/jogging/biking again

Throughout the week we talked a lot about my situation, he explained to me what I should do and what I shouldn't do and taught me a lot unlike doctors I've seen in the hospital.

Told me to come back in 2 weeks time.

**davtown** · 01-23-2007, 06:14 AM

Week 3

Friday 1/5/07

-thermoscribe reading on my neck - initial adjustment to C2 holding well, however C5 still had not responded.
-made one adjustment to C5 vertebrae (5th vertebrae from the top - feel the notch on your upper back, that's C7). Gentle, firm, precise adjustment, no twisting or turning of neck. Very easy and painless.
-told me to come back in 2 weeks time.

-cleared me to start weight training again! (lightly)
-total time away from weights: 18 days

**davtown** · 01-23-2007, 06:19 AM

Throughout weeks 4 and 5, my low back started feeling much better. When I first came to him, I had the urge to crack my back and neck 15-20 times a day minimum. (fyi: cracking your back is not good). This has been reduced to a couple times a day at most, I even had one day where I did not feel the urge to crack my back!! this is amazing. The pain/tension is still there, however it is reduced.

Week 5

Friday 1/19/07

-thermoscribe reading on neck - adjustments holding well
-told me that I am healing well and he is not going to make any adjustments on me today as it is not needed. told me to come back in 2 weeks time.

next appointment set for Friday 2/2/07.

I have been easing back into weight training, nothing special, just using a little bit heavier weights when I feel like I'm up for it, but still nothing very heavy.

12-19-2006, 06:27 AM	#1
davtown OM NOM NOM NOM Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: San Francisco Posts: 2,351 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 128	Training hiatus/detour - My current situation I finally paid a visit to a chiropractor today - I've been meaning to see him for a long time now as he came highly recommended to me by someone I trust, and I figured he could probably help me given his 40+ years of experience. The last time I had been to a chiropractor was about a year ago, and although I had a decent experience there, I knew it was time to find go to the right guy. As a side note, my new doctor's name is Dr. Bliss - very appropriate For those who don't know, I have constant discomfort in my lower back (injury from Summer 2005), as well as constant discomfort (and often pain) in my neck and middle back (between the shoulder blades) from a Summer 2004 injury. I discussed my issues with him, as well as a few other things (nutrition, weight training, my future career as a chiropractor) One thing I really liked about this guy was that he explained everything he was doing before he did it. He had me sit down and take off my shirt so that he could get some readings with a heat sensor device. The device slowly made it's way up my the center of my back, from the bottom up, and detected any heat that my back was giving off. Apparently, this was meant to show which areas were problem areas - not surprisingly, my upper neck was the area that gave the most significant readings on the chart. Next we took some X-Rays. One from the front, one from the side, and a few of my neck. He developed them and we had a look, which confirmed both his and my suspicions - I had a severe misalignment in both my C1 (atlas) and C2 (axis) vertebrae, and to add to it, they were both misaligned in opposite directions! Instead of doing what people generally think of as a neck adjustment (grabbing the head and twisting and turning), he had me lie down on my side and placed his finger on the misaligned atlas with my head supported on a headrest ready to 'drop'. He explained exactly what he was going to do beforehand, and then went ahead with the adjustment - no twisting of the head or neck, just a simple, precise nudge to get that bone where it should be. (For those unfamiliar, a drop table is a table in which specific areas can be set up to literally 'drop' as the adjustment is applied - they are used so that as the chiropractor applies the adjustment, most of the force is absorbed by the table, resulting in a much gentler, equally effective adjustment.) That was the only adjustment he made today - he wanted to see how the aligning of the atlas bone would affect the rest of the spine. I'm going back on Wednesday so he can recheck me. He is also a pretty conservative chiropractor - if he checks you out and you don't need an adjustment, he will not give one. He believes that many chiropractors are 'adjustment happy' so to say, whereas he goes by a very precise approach. Each adjustment he makes has a strong purpose. In fact, if he does not believe that he can help you in the first place, then he will turn you away! OK, onto the training part! He told me that I should lay off of training for about a week, including running. He gave me the OK to go for walks, but told me to lay off on strenous activity such as weightlifting or running until my body get's used to it's new environment. He said that after my week off, I can start lifting again on a revised regiment for a few weeks, eventually working back to where I was before I came in. This is fine with me as my longterm health is far more important than heavy training right now, and since I'm young, any gains I may lose will be quickly recovered. Slow and steady wins the race. Due to my conditions in my middle back, he also advised me against movements that have both of my scapulae squeezing in at the same time - for example, he advised me to switch to front squats instead of back squats. He also advised me to not go all the way down on bench/dumbell presses to the point where my both my scapulae are squeezing in, and if I wanted to go that far down, do it unilaterally with dumbells so that only one scapula is squeezing back at a time. Same thing with bb/db rows. Also told me not to do pulldowns or overhead presses behind the neck for the same reason. OK, the good news! He said that the way my lumbar spine sits in relation to my pelvis makes for a very strong foundation, which I am happy with. I was also worried that with the discomfort I have in my lower back, that perhaps I had some degenerating discs, but when we looked at the x-rays, they showed as looking normal and healthy. The only major distrubance in my spine was in my upper neck area. Perhaps the most difficult part so far has been refraining from cracking my back and neck - he strongly advised me against this for several reasons, and even though it is a complete, complusive habit at this point, I have refrained from doing so! I'm actually very proud of myself there because that's something that I would do A LOT! He believes that within 7-8 visits he can help me tremendously, and I have a lot of faith in him. He was kind and sincere, we talked extensively and he explained everything of concern to me. I was also pleased to find out that he was not completely clueless on weight training, and when we reviewed my diet, he was thankful that he did not need to educate me on that aspect. I was also pleased to hear that he encouraged moderate use of protein powder! Not often you hear a doctor say that. Sorry for the long post everybody, I thought it was necessary to explain everything that was going on with me at the moment. Thanks to anyone who read all of this, I'll keep you all updated on my progress and I can't wait to get back to my normal training routine again! __________________ --Training Journal-- current/goal D: 350/380 S: 280/300 B: 235/260

12-19-2006, 09:35 AM	#3
A.FreeRadical the Epicurean Bodybuilder Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 2,245 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 57	It is nice to hear that you are getting good results and good advice. A competent chiropractic doctor can do wonders. I'll watch this post to see how it is going. Good luck. * __________________ "Is it going to be the red pill or the blue pill, Neo? The red pill will answer the question 'What is the Matrix?' Choose carefully. Remember, all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more." Ron Paul for President, 2008 A.FreeRadical ...the Epicurean bodybuilder Height: 5'9", Age: 62, My last high on 2/1/2006 was 196 lbs. My last low on 8/08/2006 was 167.5 lbs. Cutting until I am lean Starting weight: 190 lbs. bodyfat: 19.7% November 27th: 183 lbs. bodyfat: 18.3% bodyfat Goal Weight: 176 lbs with no more than 10% bodyfat My recipe collection

12-20-2006, 09:37 PM	#5
davtown OM NOM NOM NOM Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: San Francisco Posts: 2,351 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 128	Thanks for following along fellas. Well here's what has happened so far - I had my initial appointment/adjustment on Monday and my doc told me not to do any rigorous physical activity to allow the bones to settle. Monday evening and all of Tuesday, my pain did not diminish (although we must understand here that pain is a symptom, not the problem). The pain in my middle back between my shoulder blades has always primarily been on the left side, however since my adjustment it has spread over to the right side as well. I knew this was a good sign because it meant that the pain was diffusing and the bones in my middle back had begun to settle into a more neutral position, forcing the connective tissue to adjust to the new environment. Most people would never associate a spreading pain with a positive event, however I understand that this is part of a longterm process and I must look at it from a different perspective. The body always strives for homeostasis - a stable, constant condition - no matter how damaging, disruptive, or dangerous that condition is. For a long time, my body was used to several misaligned vertebrae, in this example my middle back, between my shoulder blades. When this new environment is forced upon my body, this creates a disturbance from what it is used to, and although the new environment is positive and beneficial, the body may not be very receptive of it. This disturbance and subsequent forced adaptation of the tendons, ligaments, and muscles surrounding the vertebrae are the cause of this slight increase in pain. Fast forward to today - when I woke up this morning, the 'extra pain' that I was referring to was gone and I could feel some relief in the area between my shoulder blades. The condition of my lower back is unchanged so far from where we started at the beginning of this journey. I was supposed to have jury duty today, however when I called last night I was informed that I was not to come... excellent. I called up the doc and made an appointment for 12:30PM. I get to the doctor's office (which is only a few minutes from my house, no freeway driving needed - very convenient), and we get to business. He asks me how I'm feeling and I tell him what's going on... he proceeds to do a few tests. He did the heat test again, except this time only on my neck to see how it responded to the adjustment. He then had me lie face down on a table and noted that my hips were level (they were previously out of whack), and then did a few movement tests on me, one of which included me turning my head to the left, and then he slightly pushed my feet and legs towards the top of my body. He then did the same with my head turned to the right. When we ran this test on Monday, I had extra tension during this test when I had my head turned to the right, however today, everything felt neutral - nothing abnormal this time around. After those results, plus the results from the heat scanner, he was glad to see that the adjustment in my neck had held up well. I recieved one adjustment today at the base of my spine (L5). I immediately felt some relief in my lower lumbar region and he had me walk around the office briefly. I was very pleased with today's adjustment, and although the condition of my upper lumbar/lower thoracic region is still unchanged, my lower lumbar is much improved and I am excited for the next step. The doc also cleared me to do aerobics beyond walking - meaning I can go for a run or a bike ride now. Thanks again to anyone that sticks through this journey with me and follows my progress! __________________ --Training Journal-- current/goal D: 350/380 S: 280/300 B: 235/260

01-23-2007, 06:06 AM	#11
davtown OM NOM NOM NOM Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: San Francisco Posts: 2,351 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 128	OK, I have not updated this in a while... now that I'm off of break and back to school, I'm going to update it again to give me a reason to procrastinate. My entries won't be as long though..... Here's a summary of what has happened so far. -Went to chiro with chronic back (lower + mid) and neck pain. -Took x-rays and thermoscribe readings (thermoscribe is a device that measures heat given off by body. run it along the spine to see the areas out of alignment) -developed xrays on the spot -both xrays and thermoscribe confirmed what we both though to be true - severe misalignments in my upper neck. Some in my mid back and lower back, but my neck was the biggest problem area. __________________ --Training Journal-- current/goal D: 350/380 S: 280/300 B: 235/260

01-23-2007, 06:11 AM	#12
davtown OM NOM NOM NOM Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: San Francisco Posts: 2,351 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 128	Week 1 - this was my first week and I saw him 3 times... M / W / F Monday 12/18/06 -this was my initial visit where I was examined. -one adjustment made to my upper neck (C2 - axis, the second bone of the spine) no twisting or turning of the neck, just a firm, gentle, and precise nudge. -told me to not train with weights for a bit and to keep cardio to walking for now Wednesday 12-20-06 -took thermoscribe of my neck to see how adjustment was holding up.... it was holding up well -made one adjustment to lowest vertebrae of spine (L5) -experienced immediate relief in very lower portion of back -mid back and main low back region (upper lumbar/lower thoracic) remained in pain Friday 12-22-06 -thermoscribe reading on neck, adjustment holding up well -made an adjustment to my mid back. spine was translated forward a tad too much, so he nudged it back into place -cleared me to start up running/jogging/biking again Throughout the week we talked a lot about my situation, he explained to me what I should do and what I shouldn't do and taught me a lot unlike doctors I've seen in the hospital. Told me to come back in 2 weeks time. __________________ --Training Journal-- current/goal D: 350/380 S: 280/300 B: 235/260

12-20-2006, 09:52 PM	#7
bubba g Moderator Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 3,184 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 178	sounds promising so far..

01-23-2007, 06:14 AM	#13
davtown OM NOM NOM NOM Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: San Francisco Posts: 2,351 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 128	Week 3 Friday 1/5/07 -thermoscribe reading on my neck - initial adjustment to C2 holding well, however C5 still had not responded. -made one adjustment to C5 vertebrae (5th vertebrae from the top - feel the notch on your upper back, that's C7). Gentle, firm, precise adjustment, no twisting or turning of neck. Very easy and painless. -told me to come back in 2 weeks time. -cleared me to start weight training again! (lightly) -total time away from weights: 18 days __________________ --Training Journal-- current/goal D: 350/380 S: 280/300 B: 235/260

01-23-2007, 06:19 AM	#14
davtown OM NOM NOM NOM Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: San Francisco Posts: 2,351 Recipes: 0 Rep Power: 128	Throughout weeks 4 and 5, my low back started feeling much better. When I first came to him, I had the urge to crack my back and neck 15-20 times a day minimum. (fyi: cracking your back is not good). This has been reduced to a couple times a day at most, I even had one day where I did not feel the urge to crack my back!! this is amazing. The pain/tension is still there, however it is reduced. Week 5 Friday 1/19/07 -thermoscribe reading on neck - adjustments holding well -told me that I am healing well and he is not going to make any adjustments on me today as it is not needed. told me to come back in 2 weeks time. next appointment set for Friday 2/2/07. I have been easing back into weight training, nothing special, just using a little bit heavier weights when I feel like I'm up for it, but still nothing very heavy. __________________ --Training Journal-- current/goal D: 350/380 S: 280/300 B: 235/260