Oh my back!

The Chiropractor put it like this..."sometimes I see 60 year olds with the 'straight spines' of 20 year olds and sometimes I see 20 year olds with the spines of a 60 year old". Me...well I fit more into the latter rather then the former.

When he showed me the results of my x-rays, I nearly died. I couldn’t believe that it was my spine (the curvy one) I was looking at. The pelvis yes (which oddly looked warped even to me) given my history, but not the spine – how could that be?? Apparently, I look to have injured my back about 5 years ago (by the looks of the degeneration). I of course have absolutely no idea how that might have happened.

He also commented that it was inevitable that I would develop SPD.

As it stands, I have phase one subluxation degeneration of the neck and mid back area which essentially means I have a misalignment and malfunction of the soft tissue damage and nerve irritation. The prognosis is that it can return to near normal with appropriate chiropractic care. It’s the lower back that is the real problem. Apparently, I have phase two subluxation degeneration of the lower back. Basically, the physiology of phase two is disc narrowing, calcium deposition, bone spurs, and nerve irritation (huh??). With appropriate chiropractic care I can expect a slowing or stopping of the degeneration. With out treatment it is an odds on beat that I will get osteoarthritis (in the spine).

Now that ‘we’ know what is wrong with my back we can work on treating it. My chiropractor is hopeful that with treatment (at least 2 sessions a week over the coming weeks) I will see vast improvements. Whilst I am not in a great deal of pain at the moment – there are times when I do have back aches which are more prominent now then they were – it is important to treat it to ensure the degeneration doesn’t progress.

Today was my second session. Whilst I didn’t notice any improvements from the first session, he did (ie. reflexes etc). It will be a slow process but we will get there (so he thinks).

I have just joined the gym and will probably start going in a few weeks time. My focus now that I have had Lily is to my fitness and wellbeing. I got quite sick in the winter following Byron’s birth and I don’t want any repeats this time around. So off to the gym I go, plus the chiropractor as well. I guess that only leaves the healthy eating (hmmm I think that will be the hardest obstacle of all!).