Physical Necessity

I was given some hard words to swallow from my chiropractor this week.  I hadn't seen him for about 3 years because he was in an accident and couldn't work so he and his wife decided to serve a mission. They were called to serve in Russia and they LOVED it.  Anyway, back to the hard words I had to hear --- my lower back is basically in the same condition as that of a 95 year old.  Ouch!!!  I knew my back was bad and I am always in pain, but I never knew it was THAT bad.  Four years ago I had to have a CT scan for a stomach problem and found out that I had scoliosis of my lower spine.  With new x-rays this week, my chiropractor discovered that besides the scoliosis, I have major subluxation or deterioration of the lower 4-5 vertebrae as well.  Oh joy!  I have tried to exercise to help take care of my back for many years and I even purchased an inversion table to try to help ease the back pain, but I guess I didn't do enough to slow the aging process of my back.  However, help is on the way.  My chiropractor feels that with consistent therapy and proper care and adjustments over the course of a year, he can improve my condition to be that of a 75 year old, allowing my age to one day catch up with my deteriorated spine.  Happy day!

This is a picture of my spine 4 years ago from the CT Scan. You can see how it curves.  The curve today is much more pronounced than this. I don't have a picture of it though.

I will be visiting the chiropractor 3 times per week for several weeks and then I can taper the visits down as time progresses and improvements are made.  This is something I really need to do, not something I want to do.  However, I am willing to do anything necessary in order to try to improve my health.  A healthy back means a healthier me when it is time to serve a mission once Alan retires -- a major goal of ours.