Its been about 2 months since the car accident, and I am sad to report that things aren't getting better as fast as I had hoped (or expected) that they would. I am still having a lot of pain and discomfort in my neck/shoulders and have been dealing with awful headaches that last for days. I have never been someone who gets headaches often, so these have been especially hard for me to deal with.
Right after the accident, we found a chiropractor through our insurance and I have been seeing him since two weeks after the accident happened. I typically would go in 2-3 times a week for an hour long deep tissue massage, and an adjustment. After about a month, he started talking about sending me to physical therapy (which I am all for) and for "pain management" (which I am not). Because basically pain management is just a nice way of saying they want to stick needles into my neck and inject big enough doses of steroids to last for 3-6 months. I want to get better...but I don't think chemicals of any kind are the answer!
Then I started talking to a friend of mine who has worked in a few different chiropractic offices, and she is super knowledgeable about all aspects of chiropractic care. The information she gave me confirmed my suspicions that the guy I was seeing was only interested in treating the symptoms, and not in figuring out the reason I was still in so much pain. She recommended a couple chiro offices that focus more on ones overall well being and recovery. I made an appointment with one, and I am shocked at how different the experience has been!
My new chiro is the first person since this started to order xrays of my neck - a huge thing considering that the other doctor was treating my neck pain without really knowing what was going on. She is doing so much more, but at the same time doing less, if that makes sense. Less of the fancy machines, more of actual physical work on my back/neck. She discovered that my hips were out of alignment, that the top few ribs on my right side are still out of place, and she got so much insight on my neck problems from the xrays. As you can see on this one, things are seriously out of line:
All sorts of vertebrae are poking out in the wrong positions, and she found tendon damage in one of the middle ones. The first three vertebra at the top of my neck are staying stiff, instead of moving when I bend my neck, which means that they are throwing everything else out of whack. One of the big surprises was what she saw in the muscles around my neck on the films. She said it was highly unusual to even be able to see muscles on an xray, because they really shouldn't show up in normal circumstances. But on mine we saw that on my left side the muscles are all stretched out and bulging, while on my right side there are clear signs that the muscles have been torn. All my neck muscles are highly inflamed, which is definitely causing some of the pain. It's not really a surprise to me, but it was validating to see it there in black and white.
She has done adjustments twice, and I feel so much of a difference already. Its an awesome feeling to leave the chiropractors office feeling better instead of worse! It doesn't last for long, usually just for that day, but hopefully the periods of pain free time will soon become longer and longer. The plan now is to see the chiropractor twice a week for the month of February, in conjunction with seeing a massage therapist once or twice a week. At the end of the month we will do another evaluation to see what is working and what isn't, and reassess the treatment plan at that time. She said physical therapy is going to be necessary, and that will begin in March, hopefully they can show me some good stretches and exercises to help support my neck and allow the muscles to heal.
This has been such a long road, I never in a million years expected to still be in pain this long after the accident. I am really hopeful that this new doctor and her treatment plan will shift everything, and start me on the road to recovery. I am SO ready to start feeling better!
Right after the accident, we found a chiropractor through our insurance and I have been seeing him since two weeks after the accident happened. I typically would go in 2-3 times a week for an hour long deep tissue massage, and an adjustment. After about a month, he started talking about sending me to physical therapy (which I am all for) and for "pain management" (which I am not). Because basically pain management is just a nice way of saying they want to stick needles into my neck and inject big enough doses of steroids to last for 3-6 months. I want to get better...but I don't think chemicals of any kind are the answer!
Then I started talking to a friend of mine who has worked in a few different chiropractic offices, and she is super knowledgeable about all aspects of chiropractic care. The information she gave me confirmed my suspicions that the guy I was seeing was only interested in treating the symptoms, and not in figuring out the reason I was still in so much pain. She recommended a couple chiro offices that focus more on ones overall well being and recovery. I made an appointment with one, and I am shocked at how different the experience has been!
My new chiro is the first person since this started to order xrays of my neck - a huge thing considering that the other doctor was treating my neck pain without really knowing what was going on. She is doing so much more, but at the same time doing less, if that makes sense. Less of the fancy machines, more of actual physical work on my back/neck. She discovered that my hips were out of alignment, that the top few ribs on my right side are still out of place, and she got so much insight on my neck problems from the xrays. As you can see on this one, things are seriously out of line:
All sorts of vertebrae are poking out in the wrong positions, and she found tendon damage in one of the middle ones. The first three vertebra at the top of my neck are staying stiff, instead of moving when I bend my neck, which means that they are throwing everything else out of whack. One of the big surprises was what she saw in the muscles around my neck on the films. She said it was highly unusual to even be able to see muscles on an xray, because they really shouldn't show up in normal circumstances. But on mine we saw that on my left side the muscles are all stretched out and bulging, while on my right side there are clear signs that the muscles have been torn. All my neck muscles are highly inflamed, which is definitely causing some of the pain. It's not really a surprise to me, but it was validating to see it there in black and white.
She has done adjustments twice, and I feel so much of a difference already. Its an awesome feeling to leave the chiropractors office feeling better instead of worse! It doesn't last for long, usually just for that day, but hopefully the periods of pain free time will soon become longer and longer. The plan now is to see the chiropractor twice a week for the month of February, in conjunction with seeing a massage therapist once or twice a week. At the end of the month we will do another evaluation to see what is working and what isn't, and reassess the treatment plan at that time. She said physical therapy is going to be necessary, and that will begin in March, hopefully they can show me some good stretches and exercises to help support my neck and allow the muscles to heal.
This has been such a long road, I never in a million years expected to still be in pain this long after the accident. I am really hopeful that this new doctor and her treatment plan will shift everything, and start me on the road to recovery. I am SO ready to start feeling better!