My Discovering Chiropractic Experience
Written by: Alberto C.
When I was 15 years old I use to play football. One of the times that I was playing football, I tackled someone and in doing so I felt something pop in my back, right between my shoulders. My back did not feel any pain, what I felt was a numbing sensation, so I never had it checked out. I neglected this injury for the years.
In my late 20s I decided I needed to become more active in my life and started working out. During my workouts I felt sever limitations especially when I was doing weight training. Every time I did any upper body weight training I would feel numbing and discomfort in my back and shoulders. I especially felt restricted when lifting items about my head, for I would feel intense pressure on my back and shoulders. I dismissed it as limitations due to my injuries and I felt there was nothing that I could do about it. I decided to focus more in cardio training specifically hiking, running, and biking.
One day I was doing a 10-mile hike, in Big Basin, and I was not careful on where I was going and I slipped on some rocks and sprained my ankle. Since I still had three miles left to go before reaching the car, I had no choice but to keep going. I went to the doctor and x-rays were performed and he told me nothing is broken and there was nothing that needed to be done, that the injury will heal on its own. After three months I was still barely able to walk on my ankle and it did not feel like it was getting any better.
One day at the gym I ran into one of the chiropractors from Discover Chiropractic. They asked me to come in and get checked out. It was then that I found out that even though I had not broken any bones when I sprained my ankle, there were definitely bones that were not aligned properly and this resulted in all of the pain I felt in my foot. In addition I found out that due to my football injury in high school that went untreated, there was some degeneration of a couple discs in my spine, due to the misalignment.
After about two ankle adjustments I was walking more normally again and within a couple more weeks I was able to start a light jogging over small distances. The adjustments combined with the recommended stretches and exercises I was able to eventually start running again and keep on running, I have been able to do several half marathons and triathlons since then.
With my back, over a period of time, due to the adjustments, I started noticing that the numbing feeling that I had in my back started going away. Over a period of months I felt the pain diminish and my body getting stronger. I found myself being able to lift more weight that I had ever before, and I was able to increase my strength in my shoulders, since lifting weight did not hurt anymore. I found myself being able to be more active and being able to do more with my body, even though not too long ago I had several limitations. Aside of all the running that I can do now, I find myself performing tasks that I never saw myself doing before, such as the Urbanathlon that I have coming up. [ Alberto successfully completed the Urbanathon this last month!]
It is a great feeling that I do not have to live with all the pain and complications that I had due to my injuries, and I routinely get adjusted to make sure that I can keep my body in a healthy condition to be able to perform all the physical goals I have set for myself.