Use your Backbone!

I don't mean that to be interpreted metaphorically, but instead as a true statement - in relation to the new information I have acquired.

I have just arrived home from my first visit to the chiropractor to check out some serious neck pain I've been having. I am no stranger to the chiropractor, but it has been years since I have last been. I am experiencing reoccurring issues in regards to the mobility of my neck and upper back - resulting in extreme pain and a basic lock down of my entire back. This has affected my life dramatically. Although I find this happens most in times of great stress, it can also happen for no apparent reason. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and cant turn my head to look at the alarm clock.

It was under assumption that I decided that the pain was due to a simple neck kink, chill from and open window or a strain (from heavy school bags) during the day. After assessment from the chiropractor, I was surprised to learn that the issues are most likely due to damaged and underdeveloped muscles in my spine.The cause of this damage has been relentless throughout the years. Lifting children, bags, groceries, and bad falls from the backs of horses. At 16, I fell from my horse and landed on a rock - fracturing a vertebrae and slipping a disk. Sounds scary, but I received chiropractic therapy for months and months, to correct my injuries. The therapy ended and I thought I was in "all better land". Fast forward 17 years, and I am back at square one.

Through asking questions and engaging with my chiropractor, I have been given insight into new discoveries made about spinal muscles. It turns out that muslces through the spine do not behave in the same way as our other muscle systems. When muscles are damaged or degraded, they normally are able to repair themselves after the underlying condition or injury is corrected. However, spinal muscles are lazy and remain in their deteriorated state until (and if ) they are specifically targeted with rehabilitation exercises. So all of my efforts to repair injury at age 16, did not send my spinal muscles back to their original healthy condition. Instead, they have deteriorated further (through normal stress and strain) and their weakened condition has cause my spine to twist and my hips to sit on a pivot.

There is a light at the end of this tunnel. Thankfully I have met this chiropractor, who is going to fix me up through correction and rehabilitation. I will have to "use my backbone" literally and metaphorically. Physiotherapy will target my spinal muscles to rebuild strength. It won't be easy work, but Ill put my back into it! 21 month old - I will lift again!