And No More Happiness!

So I've been racking up the sick leave as of late. But that's what happens when you become an old man apparently. So I was at work last week and doing the strenuous activity of...sitting. And somewhere in there I start feeling a pain in my upper back. So I try to pop it. It doesn't pop. Instead it decides to increase in discomfort and the pain starts to wrap around to my chest. So at the ripe age of 27, my back decides I have been comfortable too long.

So I pack up and decide to try to find a medical professional to take a look see. I had been meaning to go to the chiropractor anyway for some preventive maintenance (obviously not soon enough), so I tried there first. She was out, so I made an appointment for the next week, and Ann found an orthopedic and sports medicine...place that could see me that day. But by the time I reached my appointment I had cracked my back, which alleviated most of the pain. But to find a root cause I kept my appointments, but had to go during no pain. And it's always fun to go to the doctor and start with "well, I feel fine". I couldn't decide how to "rate my pain". Do I rate how I felt before, or do I rate how I feel now? I think I rated how I felt before hand so I didn't look stupid. But then they seemed a little concerned that I had rated it so highly (I mean...I said 3 or 4 for both). One prescribed me muscle relaxers and told me to take some pain killers, another was like "I know you're in pain so I'm going to do some relief...something, which basically just meant she was going to make my neck pop in a way that I have never before experienced. I couldn't tell if I wasn't communicating or if they weren't listening.



So what I found from going to two different doctors for the same thing, is that you get whatever diagnosis is relevant to their field. I mean, I know it's natural for people to try to explain things in terms of what they understand, but it was interesting to experience it so blatantly. I mean, it's back pain, so it has two obvious potential root causes. Muscular or bone...ecular. So with my lack of specifics (since I was no longer in pain and I'm generally unobservant), and the fact that the focal point of pain was right on the border of muscle and spine, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I got two different diagnosis from two different "specialists".

The orthopedic doctor guessed it was an irritated disk and her solution was to sign me up for physical therapy. The chiropractor attributed the problem to spine misalignment and prescribed a regiment of realignment sessions.

So what do you do? I guess you go to both and see which one makes you feel better. Except...they are basically going to be simultaneous (and again...I'm unobservant), so I'll really have no idea which is helping (or hurting).

This was my first chiropractic experience. In the movies they always show them doing these crazy maneuvers that cause these loud cracks that look like they cause more pain than they relieve. I thought hollywood juiced it up. Turns out...not so much. I mean, the chiropractor didn't twist me in crazy positions...but MAN can they make your back and neck crack! Does that freak anyone else out? Anybody else have the urge after one of those cracks to suddenly go limp? Anybody? No? Just me?

Initially I thought I would want a male chiropractor to be sure that he had the strength to do what needed to be done. But after a few visits, I think a male would stress me out, as I already feel like the my current doctor is going to snap my spine.

At the chiropractor I received some instruction on how I should "live" in order to protect my back. Basically I have to change the way I walk, drive, stand, sit, and sleep. After leaving the chiropractor I felt very much like this: (skip to 2:50 for the relevant section, though the whole thing is funny).



But instead of no more happiness, it was, "You may never be comfortable again". I can't sit on my wallet, I'm supposed to drive with both hands on the wheel (yeah right), I'm supposed to sit with my knees above my hips, sleep on my side, not pop my back or neck...

I guess my back will hurt for awhile.