My Life with the Chiropractor ~ Rachel

When you start looking for something, you inevitably find other things. In my world, when it rains, it pours.

I’ve been seeing Dr. Josh, a chiropractor, for the very chronic plantar fasciitis in my left foot.  He’s been using the Graston technique to break down scar tissue in my calf, my achilles tendon and of course, my left foot. It hurts like Hades but there has been progress so I will continue to grit my teeth and suck it up. He’s also been using ultrasound on the achilles and the foot since the scraping has managed to get rid of some of the scar tissue. Something is finally working. I’m still a little shocked it took a chiropractor to figure it out when I had a renowned orthopedic doc trying to fix my foot.  I have 7 more sessions with Dr. Josh before my money runs out so I’m hoping that’s all I need to get this foot in a position where only I have to work on it with stretching and icing to get it better. I have a birthday coming up and if I get any birthday money, I will use it for more sessions with Dr. Josh. You know you are getting old when you consider sessions with your chiropractor a gift!

Before Dr. Josh started any of this, he decided to take xrays of my neck and spine since I have a history of stress fractures in my lower back. Well, my spine was ok except for some decreased spacing between the discs in my lower back…nothing a little weight loss and core strengthening can’t handle. My neck, on the other hand, has lost it’s curve. I’m curvy everywhere except where I’m supposed to be! So, Dr. Josh now adjusts my neck and my back on top of taking care of the foot. He uses his hands most of the time but every now and then he will break out these “toys” that do things like send rapid vibrations into my muscles or move my bones. Sounds gruesome, eh? I’m not so much a fan of them. Sometimes it’s like a jackhammer going at my neck. I prefer the twisting and cracking of the manual adjustments.

The other day, I was laying on my back for my neck and back adjustment when he told me to relax my legs. I relaxed them and he pointed out that while my left leg (the bad one ) was situated properly (straight out), the right leg kind of turned out to the side and flopped over. Dr. Josh attributed some of it to severe pronation but also told me that my piriformis muscle is screwed up. He told me that he would work on that at our next session and that it would not feel good.

Wanna know where your piriformis muscle is? Your butt. It’s the muscle that’s deep in your butt and attaches to your hip. It’s responsible for lateral rotation of your hip (which then affects everything else on the way down).

Dr. Josh took the huge vibrator thingy to my butt on Friday and I saw stars. It hurt so bad that I actually stopped talking. That, my friends, is pain. I would rather him scrape at my achilles tendon for 10 minutes than endure that vibrator thing on my butt for one minute. I now have a HUGE purple bruise on my butt (Dr. Josh is convinced I am anemic) and if I catch it right, it’s not fun sitting down.

Dr. Josh is going to show me some stretches to do (I feel like all I do is stretch these days) on Wednesday when I see him next. I did my own internet search and came up with a few. If you want to stretch your piriformis muscle, check out this video.

In trying them out, it became clear to me, VERY QUICKLY, how tight my piriformis muscle really is. Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “tight ass” (which I can be).