My Spine Is Rubbish

I just got back from my second visit with our chiropractor (who is also Dean's uncle). He's a great guy, even if I have to turn the speed of my brain up to 11 in order to follow his incredibly fast rate of speech. I went in for the first time on Monday and had some X-Rays taken, followed by a standard adjustment. I went back in today (Wednesday) for a follow up to look at the films and discuss a course of treatment. Apparently my spine sucks in some ways, but is really good in others.

Sucky stuff: my neck is curvy in places it is not supposed to be, while it is straight in places where it is supposed to be curvy. This is causing my upper and middle back to compensate by curving the other way. This is what caused the pinched nerve on Friday that sent me to the chiropractor in the first place. Also, I have a dislocated rib, but I have no idea why.

Really good stuff: none of my vertebrae have fused, which would make correction without surgery impossible. Also, the space between the vertebrae is very good, which will make adjustment and correction of the curvature easier. Lastly, my insurance covers up to ten chiropractic visits per calendar year at a cost of just a $10 co-pay for me. So even though those will get used up quickly with this correction, at least I have the option of using them without a huge out-of-pocket expense.

So yeah. Now I know why my neck is always stiff and creaky. The combination of my many brother-induced and self-induced head injuries as a kid, plus my several years of intensive computer use for work and play have really jacked it up.

While the neck adjustments are, well, alarming at the time, my neck hasn't felt this good in probably a decade. Good times.