Back pain. We’ve all experienced it. Today I went to a Chiropractor

[ScottsGT]

Enough was enough.  Two weeks of muscle relaxers, Motrin and Tylenol just wasn’t cutting it.  I’ve been carrying around the name of a highly recommended chiropractor for over a year now and finally gave in.  Called them up and they told me to get down there ASAP. 
I hobbled into his clinic like a cripple and came out feeling like Fred Astaire ready to dance to my wife waiting out in the car.  
He did warn me to not get too excited. This will last 24-48 hours and it will start moving out of joint again. 
Apparently I’ve been living with my right SI joint out of whack for a few years now.  He warmed me up, gave me shock therapy to loosen up things and then twisted me up like a pretzel and popped things back into place. 
Not only the SI joint, but two vertebrae in my mid thoracic were out of place and a spot in my neck.  
Made an appointment for additional adjustments for Thursday and Saturday morning.  As he put it, it’s been out of whack for a while. It wants to stay out until he keeps putting it back in place for a while. 
 

This whole time I was thinking it was my spinal stenosis from where I had laminectomies done on L2-3 & L4-5 back in 1999. This guy was good. Just talking to me he knew it was not this area and he did tests proving my stenosis is not really causing me the pain issues I thought they were. 
 

Hopefully in the morning I’ll know if I can spend time back at the bench. 

[PanzerWomble]

If you can hack it ....I can recommend yoga is a great way to keep from seizing up . I did it a lot when i was driving 50k miles a year and used to cry on climbing out of the car. 

 

....although you have to pick an age appropriate group to avoid being the only middle aged man in a group of 20 something yummy mummies. Unless thats your thing .....🥷

[CANicoll]

Scott,  Hope you get some relief!  I have a broken vertebra in my lower back that if I gain too much weight (stomach) it pulls the spine forward and pulls that vertebra out of alignment.  I hear you about the pain.  Suddenly the legs just stop working.  Have not wanted to go in for the surgery, so just keeping my weight down, best as I can.

[BlrwestSiR]

I got stuck in our garage once doing the summer tire changeover. I was bent over and couldn't move. A neighbour found me and got Sue so she could help back into the house. Saw a chiropractor the next day in our neighbourhood same as you, hobbled in and walked out. Still have the odd flare up but nothing that bad since. 

[ScottsGT]

2 minutes ago, BlrwestSiR said:

I got stuck in our garage once doing the summer tire changeover. I was bent over and couldn't move. A neighbour found me and got Sue so she could help back into the house. Saw a chiropractor the next day in our neighbourhood same as you, hobbled in and walked out. Still have the odd flare up but nothing that bad since. 

Carl, 
Sounds like an SI joint popped out. What you were doing was what the chiropractor described to me causes it to go out. 
This crap started with me fall of ‘22 when I carried a garden sprayer around slung over one shoulder and walked 2+ miles.  Monday before Thanksgiving I drove my old F-250 to the dump and the slipped SI joint was impacting the nerves.  It took me 45 minutes to get from the driveway to the bed.  Loaded up on pain killers and muscle relaxers.   I’m now kicking my butt for not going to see this guy sooner since I got his number shortly after this.  Although the pain had gone away, I didn’t realize how it was affecting my body movement until he reset it yesterday.  That alone was like a domino effect causing other issues. 

[Jeff]

Scott , first off I’m sorry you’re going through this. And back pain is some of the most aggravating pain one can endure. I have been suffering from  a sciatica thing for months. Like you ,I couldn’t take it any longer and went to the chiropractor and he is doing wonders but the ‘Fred  Astaire ‘ effect doesn’t last for a real long time but as I go to him it does last a bit longer each time. Getting older sucks. I hope for your quick recovery. 
Jeff

[belugawhaleman]

Two back surgeries in my lifetime..... Years of sciatica continuing to this

day. Never went to a chiropractor... Perhaps I should give it a try.

Back pain is a terrible experience to go through.

Sorry to hear of your of your troubles, Scott, I hope you pull

Through.

 

[ScottsGT]

38 minutes ago, belugawhaleman said:

Two back surgeries in my lifetime..... Years of sciatica continuing to this

day. Never went to a chiropractor... Perhaps I should give it a try

Sorry to hear of your of your troubles, Scott, I hope you pull

Through.

 

Worth trying.  Drs (surgeons) make money fixing by cutting open people.  
I will add, my sciatica is greatly reduced (to the point of none) after surgery myself.  What I do experience is extreme fatigue and weakness in my legs now from the stenosis.  
After surgery (1999) I woke up crying tears of joy because for the first time in 2-3 years my leg didn’t feel like it was on fire.  Nurse started to freak out thinking I was in pain and about double dosed me with my morphine drip.  Told her hell no.  I’m enjoying the moment. Don’t you dare take it from me.   

But I’m still flabbergasted that this entire time I was thinking it was my old back issues and it was lower.  I honestly cannot express how much of a mental relief this has been finding out my back wasn’t progressively getting worse.  

[belugawhaleman]

2 minutes ago, ScottsGT said:

Worth trying.  Drs (surgeons) make money fixing by cutting open people.  
I will add, my sciatica is greatly reduced (to the point of none) after surgery myself.  What I do experience is extreme fatigue and weakness in my legs now from the stenosis.  
After surgery (1999) I woke up crying tears of joy because for the first time in 2-3 years my leg didn’t feel like it was on fire.  Nurse started to freak out thinking I was in pain and about double dosed me with my morphine drip.  Told her hell no.  I’m enjoying the moment. Don’t you dare take it from me.   

But I’m still flabbergasted that this entire time I was thinking it was my old back issues and it was lower.  I honestly cannot express how much of a mental relief this has been finding out my back wasn’t progressively getting worse.  

I think what I'm experiencing is possibly due to stenosis . I had total relief

after my surgeries, only to have minor episodes when the sciatica returned.

Now, it's something different.... Burning underneath my big toes and in the

arches. I thought, perhaps, neuropathy.. But the pain is positional....it goes

away when standing or walking....weird! It returns when sitting.....it would

be OK if I was a horse...but I have to sit down or sleep sometimes. Anyway,

I'll make an appointment to see someone soon about it.  Here's hoping

you get the relief you need.

[ScottsGT]

My stenosis does sometimes bring on weird burning sensations like someone put a lit cigarette in a spot on my lower leg or I get a sensation something is crawling up my leg.  That’s the one that freaks me out. Especially when I take the boat out and it’s stored in a covered lift full of spiders.  

[ScottsGT]

Just an update.  Went in for my third adjustment yesterday morning. I’m no longer feeling like I was in a bar fight afterwards and each day I have progressively felt better.

One of my measuring sticks is feeling the road bumps and how my body was reacting with shooting pains vs. pot hole repair size.  Aren’t SC roads great?  Idjits fill a pot holes and leave it sticking up like a speed bump or just halfway fill the holes.

 I’m actually starting to feel my older back pains before the SI flair up.  Sleeping all night in the bed has not happened yet.  Spend a couple hours in the middle of the night in my recliner. 

[ScottsGT]

Happy to report that I’m not having anymore issues from my SI joint area!  Let’s hope it lasts.  He’s put me on a weekly schedule for now since I board a cruise ship in the morning.  
Related story, my son the Corvette builder called as I was on the way to today’s appointment and he’s now having really bad upper back issues.  My chiropractor hooked him up with a guy in his area and he goes for his first adjustment in the morning.