agilebrit: (Jayne Undercaffeinated)
[personal profile] agilebrit
Okay, the dumb thing is completely out of whack. My x-rays are a scary, scary thing. One of my legs is shorter than the other, which throws my lower back off. In addition, the back itself is curving a little bit as well. Then, the upper back curves the other way to compensate. My neck vertebrae, which should have a nice curve, are nearly straight. One of them has a whiplash injury from Lord knows how long ago, so that instead of sitting right on top of the other one like it should, it's pushed backwards. I also have bone spurs in my spine, and several of the foramen (the gaps that the nerves branch out of) in my lower back are almost completely closed up, causing pressure on the nerves. I also have a herniated disk in my L5, which we knew about before this whole thing flared up again.

Whee.

The place I've been going to this week wants to put me on a six-month program. Insurance won't cover it. Which is fine with me, really, because I personally think that insurance should be for catastrophic things and not fairly routine care, which is what I consider this to be. (I won't get started on what I think the current third-party-payer system we have in place right now has done to the medical profession.) So, we're talking upwards of $3K. The chiropractor thinks that the outcome, in the end, will be "good to excellent."

The Hubby is balking. Not over the cost, but because he doesn't think that the program will solve the underlying problem and that I'm going to be doing this for the rest of my life--and thus will be putting the chiropractor's kid through college.

He wants me to get a second opinion. And that's fair. So I've cancelled the appointment with the current chiropractor for today and made an appointment with the one I used to go to way back when, like, before I had Da Boy. Yes, it's been over five years since my back has bothered me enough to get it seen to.

Why don't I go to a "regular" doctor, I hear you asking, instead of those quacky chiropractors? Because the last time I did that (admittedly, about fifteen years ago; this is a really ongoing problem for me), they sent me to completely ineffective physical therapy. I'm pretty sure that they would put me on drugs that I'm loath to take and suggest surgery for my herniated disk--and I have this terrible allergy to scalpels guddling around in my back. Chiropractors have been the only effective treatment for the pain, so I go with what works.

The Hubby thinks that the underlying problem is the fact that the tendons in my legs are too short, and thus throw off my balance. I tend to agree with him; I can barely reach the bottoms of my shins when I bend down (when my back is normal; right now I can't even reach my gorram knees), and when I lie on my back and put my legs in the air, I can't really straighten them at all. So, once we get the pain taken care of, he wants me to work with a trainer that will help stretch those tendons. I think that's a good idea.

Date: 2006-08-30 05:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] bojojoti.livejournal.com
It might help to put an orthotic in the shoe of your shorter leg.

If you wanted to rant about insurance, I'd be happy to join in the chorus!

I believe in alternative medicine. I think there are much better choices than pills or the knife.

*spell-check wants me to change "orthotic" to "erotic." Well, that would be alternative medicine, wouldn't it?

Date: 2006-08-30 05:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] agilebrit.livejournal.com
A lift in the heel of the shorter leg is definitely going to be part of the treatment, but the first chiropractor wants to wait on that for a bit, to get the back stabilized so we're not constantly changing it. Personally, I have a tendency to think that changing them out as my back changes isn't necessarily a bad thing.

We'll see what the other chiropractor says.

Date: 2006-08-30 05:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] nodrogg.livejournal.com

Ouch.

He's right about the leg - though that would have been better taken care of when you were about fifteen. The damage has been done, what I mean to say.

Chiropractors are gaining respectability in the medical profession for the simple reason that, as you say, they work - unlike, say, aromatherapy or crystal aura-scything or whatever. Acupuncture is the same way - it may be weird, but it's hard to argue with results.

Date: 2006-08-30 06:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] curiouswombat.livejournal.com
I was also going to say that an orthotic shoe lift might well help. The double curve you have described sounds like scoliosis - in which case 'correction' is not likely to be all that successful - a pretty good site about adult scoliosis is here - http://www.spineuniversity.com/public/spinesub.asp?id=43 . You are unlikely to find any sort of treatment will give you a straight spine - but a chiropractor is as likely to get some improvement as anyone. Physio to strengthen the muscles could well help, but dealing with the odd leg lengths by shoe raises really should be a good starting place, IMHO.

Date: 2006-08-30 10:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] magista.livejournal.com
Yeah, you've pretty much covered what I think about chiropractors. As long as all you let them do is massage/manipulate from your shoulders down and it works, definitely go with what works. But there ain't no such thing as 'subluxions', by gum, and they can't cure your allergies (claims I've heard on radio here).

Have you considered visiting an orthopedist and getting an insert for your shoes, for the leg length problem? (That is, if you haven't tried all of that already - please excuse me for being late to the discussion)

And hubby's idea of a physical trainer is an excellent one, as well.

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