You my friend... are a quack!

So - I don't know why - but I, along with lots of others, have had a negative opinion in regard to chiropractic practices.
"Quacks"  
I'm sure you've all heard or used that term!
No specific reason.  No personal horror story.
I don't know if its just from terrible horror stories from the past or what, but upon talking to people, I find this stereotyping to be a common thing.
(Sad)

Well - as I recently shared, I had hurt my back somehow... wasn't sure where the injury occurred, just knew that it hurt.  And I have a pretty high tolerance for pain.... I think so anyway...

But this was something I couldn't tolerate.

So I went to see an MD. I was instructed to take meds and take it easy on the lifting.  Which I did.  And sometimes the pain was better, but mostly it wasn't.
I did Alleve.  I did heating pad.  I did muscle relaxer.  I did a Lidocaine patch on my back!

When I finally asked around, I was then instructed by another power lifter to see a chiropractor. 
AH OHHH...  Do I dare??!!??

As I thought this through - I have a sweet friend that works for a chiropractic office and has for years.  So I immediately contacted her.  She is someone I trust, so I felt good about going this direction.
After she talked to one of the chiropractors there, she instructed me to get a series of x-rays to bring with me to see him.   (Bryan Hawley is his name).
I did so and went for my first visit with him.
I was very at ease after talking to him.  He is very knowledgeable not only about what he does, but about exercise and health in general.
He actually pulled my x-rays up in front of me and went through everything with me.  He explained everything so that I could understand.  And from there he told me what to do and not to do to avoid flaring up the pain.  He did NOT instruct me to stop exercising.  (my favorite part of the visit!  ha)   He did instruct me on things to do in place of other exercises to avoid straining the area of pain.
he explained my plan... or multiple plans actually.   One to get me out of pain and another to fix the exaggerated curvature of my back  (AKA my "granny hump".... OH good Lord we will NOT use that term again!!!)
He did a minor adjustment on my back and sent me on my way....

In a few days I had spoken to my friend and had a plan in place.

So - on Wednesday I went for my first visit.  Upon arrival, he did a minor adjustment on my back and neck again and then sent me over to one of the therapists to work on me.  She was also GREAT.  She laid me on my stomach and stretched out some of my muscles and then WENT TO WORK on that area on my left back that was bothering me.
GUYS....... I've had massages before where they really work on knots in your back (usually caused by stress... which I carry several of)  But she slid her hand ONE time across that area on my back and just by touch, knew that was the area that was hurting me and immediately went to work on that area.
Keep in mind - it's WEDNESDAY and Wednesday night is dead lift night for me in the gym.... I haven't gotten through a dead lift work out in two weeks due to immediate pain when doing those type of lifts.    So I was kinda worried about my lifting plan for that evening.   I had in fact already warned the BF that I would likely be a real bundle of JOY that evening in the gym....   It is VERY frustrating to have a plan laid out for your workout and then not even be able to get through the first exercise due to pain.  Grrrrrrrr
Regardless, I knew getting over this pain would be a process...  so I was trying to have faith.

When I arrived at the gym Wednesday night - I could ALREADY tell a difference in my back.
ONE visit ya'll........ ONE!
and guess what I did.
MY DEADLIFTS!!!!!!!! 
(shhhhh - don't tell!  I'll be in trouble!)
Sure I was a little tender in that area when it was over - but I can't explain the relief that I could
#1 - get through my workout after bombing out two weeks in a row.
And hello - #2 - I had ONE visit to therapy and I could ALREADY tell a difference regarding my pain!!

This treatment plan can't do ANYTHING BUT make me a better lifter.

I am SOOOOOOOO pumped!!!

So I said all of that to say this:

First of all - THIS is what it took for me to get better.  I want to thank Brandon Lilly for recommending and pushing me going to a chiropractor.  (and raving about his own doctors).  I also want to thank Kelli for getting me in and raving about her place of employment and the chiropractor she works with and the staff there.  And generally speaking I want to thank Magna Chiropractic (and recommend them to ANYONE having back problems!).  I especially want to thank Dr. Bryan Hawley.  He has been super understanding and knowledgeable and just good at what he does

Second of all...  if you have ever had bad feelings about Chiropractors or the field, maybe reconsider.   I know we all have heard horror stories.... but this is true about almost everything.  I have heard a million horror stories about MD's too - but I still go to the doctor.  Do some research on your chiropractor.  Make sure he does x-rays prior to doing adjustments.  And if you are local here in Bowling Green, I HIGHLY recommend Magna Chiropractic and specifically Dr. Bryan Hawley

There are no "quacks" in that building  ;-)

And..... Here is their website for those of you who trust me and wanna check it out!!!

www.magnachiro.com