Chiropractic Adventures

After a wealth of medical mishaps so far in 2016 (migraines and such being attributed to stress [hilarious] leading to some significant caffeine cuts among other substantial lifestyle changes that almost killed me, a daycare virus, meds to treat the daycare virus, a 911 call and then a trip to the ER in response to those meds, and other meds dorking with pre-existing anxiety... it's been fun!), my neck is out.  Probably due to the constant coughing and the month's worth of two anxiety attacks a day.  It's been hurting all the way down into my upper back and down my right arm.  So it was time, I needed to find a chiropractor here in North Liberty.

Not all chiropractors are created equal.  And what's worse: I can't tell what I'm getting into until I'm in their office.

So I made an appointment for a neck adjustment.  I was very specific.  I left work thinking that it would be ten minutes, twenty tops, and then I could be back in the classroom.

I walked into the office, filled out two forms in addition to the hour I'd already spent online filling stuff out ahead of time, and then the lady walks me over to a rack of gowns and shows me to a dressing room.

Crap.  This is not going to be 10-20 minutes.  Cue one more anxiety attack.

This chiropractor checked my vitals, for goodness sake!

More questions, lots of checking angles and what not, a couple of fancy chiropractor gadgets that take your spine's temperature...

"Now let's get a couple of X-rays..."

While she was developing those X-rays, I texted the assistant director at work that I would be late.

Then she did a bunch of measuring and dots and lines and such on the X-rays to find all of the anomalies in my spine and stuff: one of my hips is 8 mm smaller than the other, and apparently my tailbone is off.  There was also some obvious irritation in my scoliosis (which she found long before the X-rays, and I know was from the muscles being tense and pulling on it from my neck being out).

So she adjusted my tailbone and that spot in my curve, checks and finds that I had gained 10 degrees of motion (so impressive, seeing as how I couldn't move at all when I went in there), and says that she doesn't want to adjust everything at once, "No need to jerk on your neck if we don't have to," (But we have to!  Please just pop my neck!), "so we'll see how that does over the weekend and come back on Monday.  Ice is your friend, and take it easy!"

Okay, I'm going back to work now!

I'm dangerously close to being immobile again.

So I've been moving my thesis around the house today, I've done a lot of it standing at the kitchen counter trying to keep things stretched out as best I can while I write.  I found throughout the day that my left arm was about an inch longer than my right.  "Something has gone seriously awry," I texted my mom (who is a chiropractic guru... her chiropractor is one of those lots-of-gadgets types.  All I need is somebody to break my neck for me).

Then I popped my shoulder.  My arms are the same now.  :)

Now then, if anyone has any awesome tricks for how to pop one's own neck, that would be stupendous!