Crunch Goes the Minnie

Good Morning. Happy Hump day! Sorry I missed a blog yesterday. Our service at the hospital blew up with patients, I’ve been super tired after work because of it! At least I am getting in some extra activity going up and down the steps and halls of the hospital all day.

On Monday I had quite the eye opening experience. Lately I’ve been having problems with my back, specifically the spine. I’ve been dealing with quite a bit of pain right where I transition from mid back to low back so after some thinking I decided to take a leap and go see a chiropractor.

Now let me say I am MISS SKEPTIC. During PA school they wanted us to expand our knowledge of medicine so one day they had a chiropractor come in and speak to us and I thought “this guy is full of bologna!”. One of my friends swore by her chiropractor so I said okay I will give it a shot.

I was there 2 hours! Of course first he did the normal doctor things like ask about my history, check my reflexes, etc. Then I stood up and he said HOLY COW GIRL we have to get you to strengthen your abs. At first I frowned. Can he really see my abs are that bad from just looking at my back? Turns out, yes he can. Let me explain…

I’ve worked my glutes, hamstrings, and back SO MUCH that it caused a severe curve in my lower spine also known as lordosis. Because I do not do ab exercises regularly, it’s made it worse and everything is pushing forward since my abdominal muscles are weaker than my back muscles. This was a huge eye opener. I’m in medicine, but I never thought about how hard I work on my back and I’m not complimenting it in the right areas. Immediately I felt shame.  Especially since I am a fitness blogger! But hey we learn new things every day right?

So doctors orders? DO SOME ABS. He gave me some great exercises to do and yes my doctor is JACKED. Has an 8 pack and a V, the whole bit. No I didn’t see it, but he told me about it and you could tell he was not lying.

Then he took X-Rays and I became more horrified. As he was doing it he said “have you been in a car accident? Had trauma to your neck?”. I said no sir! Turns out I have the neck of a car accident victim who has suffered whiplash.

To give you guys an idea, a normal neck should look like this (and no this isn’t all him speaking, I do medicine after all!):

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See how it has that nice curve? That’s what we should have! Here is what mine looks like 🙁

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Straight as a board. These are not my images

He went further to my spine and found scoliosis, an abnormal curvature of the spine. I’ve been told before I have it, but wasn’t diagnosed until I was about 20. I do have an X-Ray picture, but I think it’s a little weird to put my insides on my blog. Unfortunately my spine isn’t even curved like a normal scoliosis. It’s BENT. And wouldn’t you know it, it’s right at the area where I am having the pain.

It looks a little similar to this picture on the left… but a tad bit lower.

So what is he to do about it? Well unfortunately scoliosis does not improve once you reach your late teens. You can only prevent it from getting worse. Looks like I am stuck with my crooked back for life. But he did say I needed a lot of work.

First thing he did was put stimulant pads on my upper back and lower back. Wow does that tingle like crazy. I could take the bottom easy, the top took my breath away, so we had to ease up on that one.

Then it came time for the “alignment”. So for those of you who have been to a chiropractor you know what this is. For those of you who have not, it’s EXACTLY like you see on television. Someone looking like they are going to break your neck and snap you in half and you hear the LOUDEST crunch ever.

When I tell you I was scared, that would be putting it lightly. I was absolutely terrified. I felt like one of those vampires in twilight. You know when one vampire takes the other by the head and neck and rips it off? I thought for sure that was going to be me and I was a goner…

Turns out I was fine, but oh so scary! Enjoy this little video… you have been warned.

I told you… vampire status!

After I finished I felt a little tight and sore, but it just felt like I had worked out. He actually told me my traps were extremely tight (no surprise there). I have an appointment to go back today to see how my body responded. I do feel like my posture is already better though 🙂

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Moving on from the scary spine, all of the east coast and mid west has been hit with an arctic blast. Here in Maryland yesterday it was 3 degrees in the morning. I was running through the parking lot to get in the building. The wind chill makes it feel like it’s below 20 and it takes your breath away. I was all bundled up like a garden gnome! I had on: 3 pairs of pants, socks, ugg boots, 3 tops including a hoodie, gloves, an infinity scarf and a heavy coat.

I did hit the gym after work, and I actually had a whole blog typed up but I lost connection and it went away into the universe. So tomorrow I will have more details of my workout since it was requested 🙂

 Today I leave you with pictures of Phoebe eating mini marshmallows… well just because!

Not a good look Phoebs…

XOXO With a Cherry On Top,

-Minnie