Chiropractor- My back brings me back

         I have finished all my planned alternative adventures.  My book is finished and submitted to my agent.   One would guess that I will wipe my hands clean of this whole alternative medicine business and get back to my bread and butter- western medicine.  But no…I am a changed man.  This past Sunday while skiing with my family, I bent over awkwardly to help my 8 year old with his ski bindings and pop went my back.  During the drive home I could tell I was in trouble.  I suffered through work on Monday,  I called in sick on Tuesday, and by Wednesday I knew I needed help.  Where did I turn for help?  The chiropractor. 

                I manage to schedule a visit for Thursday after work.  The office is in a nice section of Asheville located on the second floor of a newer office building.  I am impressed with the office’s display of technology.  First, there is the electronic sign-in via a touch screen computer. Prompts help you illustrate where you have pain.  Everything appears modern- business must be doing well.  I meet my doctor, a short man with close cropped hair.  He s affable and about my age.  He quickly reviews my history and takes a couple of x-rays.  We review the films together and he notes that my left pelvis rides lower than my right- likely due to a shortened left leg.  I have been told this before- now I am beginning to believe. My spine has a normal curvature, but there is narrowing between my L4-L5 vertebra and in my left sacroiliac  joint.  He has me lie on the table and examines my back. It is pretty cool the way he feels around and then finds the point where the pain is most intense. With this knowledge in hand,  he then loosens up my back muscles with a vibrating machine and proceeds to adjustment my lower back.  It takes a few tries, but he eventually elicits a satisfying pop and exclaims that it worked.  I have been spared the high intensity cracking of my neck that I  dread.  I then am taken to a second room where I lie face up on an automated table  which has a roller which pushes up from the table and massages while also stretching the space between each vertebra.   It feels pretty good.

I walk out of the office feeling better, but not cured.  I wish I would have that eureka moment that others describe where a maneuver is performed and then as if by miracle all the pain is gone.  The next day at work I still have lower back pain, but perhaps not as bad.  Is it the adjustment or just another 24 hours of healing?