Back pain and visiting the chiropractor

I'm joining Fairytales and Fitness for their Friday link up.  I figured I'll talk a little more about my visits to the chiropractor as this was a new experience for me.

As I've mentioned, I've been experiencing intermittent back pain for around the last year or so.  It generally lasts 1 to 2 weeks and then it's better.  But it keeps coming back every couple of months.  So I finally found a chiropractor and I think it's helping.

The first visit was 60 minutes and I appreciated that a lot of that time was spent talking.  She asked me lots of detailed questions, not just about my recent back pain, but about my lifestyle and past medical history as well.  Then she felt around my back a bit and this part was painful.  Probably because I still had a lot of inflammation in my back at that point.  She also moved my legs and arms around a bit to check on range of motion.  She then did an adjustment.  This involved me lying face down on something similar to a massage table and her pressing down hard on various parts of my back.  This was painful too.

But the next part was nice.  She had me spend 10 minutes in a special massage chair hooked up to an electrical stimulation machine.  This was just placing pads on various spots on my back and turning the machine on.  It felt a little tingl-y but no pain at all.  And combined with the massage, it felt pretty good.

The second appointment was only 30 minutes since it didn't need the extensive consultation.  It was just the adjustment, the e-stim machine/massage, and talking about whether I had seen improvement.

In general, I think the appointments are helping.  I've booked another appointment for a couple weeks from now.  I felt better the evening after the appointment, I'm sore the next day (which is apparently normal), and then I feel much better two days after the appointment.

I have another pair of Oofos that I now keep in my drawer at work

There were other things she recommended as well such as icing, drinking more water, wearing more supportive shoes at work when I'm using my standing desk, and anti-inflammatory food such as pineapple.  She recommended some stretches at the second appointment and said she'll recommend some strengthening exercises once the inflammation is gone.

Me and my backpack

I've also been working on some things on my own.  The back pain has all been on the right side, which is the side I used the carry my computer bag on.  So I've switched to a back pack hoping that will help.  I've also been paying more attention to making sure everything is at the right height when I use the standing desk at work so that my shoulders and neck aren't in uncomfortable positions.  And I'm going to keep up with the yoga since that seems to make my back feel better.

I'm hopeful that all of this together will help!  Like I said at the beginning, the pain only lasts a week or two but then it comes back later.  And it feels like it's been coming back more often.  I'd like to get this taken care of and healed before I start training for my Fall half marathon.