Chiropractic Pain Relief

A month ago, a good friend of mine who has vertebrae problems in her neck told me how she was going to a chiropractor and that not only has it improved her functioning, the chiropractor also addressed other issues she was having such as food intolerances and vitamin deficiencies. The more she told me about her experiences about going to the chiropractor, it made me wonder if chiropractic care would help my pain in my FAVA leg. At first I was very skeptical about going since I've never had any back pain and the FAVA was in my left buttock and thigh and not near my spine. I thought about how I've had FAVA for about 8 years now with 6 surgeries and no one has ever looked at my back. By removing the gluteus maximus muscle in 2012, I lost a major stabilizer. I've had my fair share of using canes, crutches, wheelchairs and walkers and have limped a great deal. Wouldn't that be enough to throw off my back? When I really thought about it, it made me realize how messed up my spine probably was and I got so angry that no one ever looked at my spine or back before so I chose to make an appointment with the chiropractor.

I told children's hospital that I was going to the chiropractor and I was told to be careful. They weren't very keen on me going but they knew that I take my health into my own hands and that I decided I was going. I told the chiropractor about FAVA and that I recently had some random sciatic pain (that I previously posted about) but for the most part I have a general throbbing pain the majority of the day accompanied with random, localized nerve pain around the FAVA masses. He was surprised to hear that no one ever looked at my back before. I got an x-ray done immediately and found out that my back was curved out to one side and that my L4 and L5 were crooked, most likely contributing to my pain. Fortunately since I'm young and my back has probably been like this for less than 10 years, he felt as if it could be adjusted back to normal within about a month. Yes, I said a month and my insurance covered it!

The solid red line is where my spine should be
and the dotted red lines is where it was.

  

I decided that I would follow his recommendations and see what happened. Even if it didn't help my pain in my FAVA leg, I knew it was probably the best to bring my spine back to where it should be now, so I won't have more severe problems later in life. I thought of it more as preventative care for the future. I've been going to the chiropractor 3 times a week for 4 weeks, for a total of 12 visits where I would use a TENS unit on my lower back for a few minutes and then got a spinal adjustment. A month after my first appointment I got a follow up x-ray. This x-ray isn't as clear as the previous one but they fixed my lower spine (lumbar spine) to go more straight along with straightening out my L4 and L5 vertebrae. Now my upper back has compensated for the lower adjustments but that could possibly straighten out on it's own after a while along with some back-strengthening exercises.

The bottom part is straighter including the L4!

I am so happy to say that within a MONTH of going to the chiropractor, he has cut my pain in HALF since I first started going. There were days I went into the office limping due to a bad pain day and would leave with half the pain and without a limp. He would give me immediate pain relief by simply adjusting my spine and working along the crest of my hips. And what's even better is that the whole experience was PAINLESS! It was all gentle spinal adjusting and I wasn't getting thrown around and jolted.

Unfortunately, the masses in my thigh and buttock are still painful with pressure - if touched/pushed on, if I sit for a long period of time, and occasionally random despite my position.  The FAVA pain didn't completely disappear (like I always wish it would) however, the 24/7  throbbing pain throughout my buttock and thigh isn't as severe as it was before the chiropractor and the nerve pain doesn't occur as often as well. There are some parts of the day, such as the morning, that I have NO PAIN at all! Although I still don't understand the anatomy and their techniques all that well, I can't stress enough how this has helped my FAVA pain in my thigh and buttock and I'm so incredibly grateful that I decided to give it a chance. Of course I made sure my chiropractor, Dr. Eric Goans told me everything he was doing and why because I'm a very skeptical patient with anything anybody does regarding my health.  He mainly used what is called an activator which is a small handheld tool that feels like mild pressure along the vertebrae he is working along (http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/chiropractic/activator-method-chiropractic-technique). I'm not a doctor or an anatomy expert by any means, but there are many nerves that run through and connect to the spinal cord and by releasing abnormal pressure off of these nerves (which can be done through a chiropractor) it can ultimately relieve pain (http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/spine-anatomy/spinal-cord-and-spinal-nerve-roots). Everything that he did was not painful and actually felt really good. We also addressed my diet and vitamin levels which I will post about in another post when I get the results!

I've notified my FAVA team at Children's Hospital Boston about how the chiropractor has helped my pain and am waiting for a response! Hopefully it will become a recommended alternative medicine choice for other FAVA patients. Have you thought about going to a chiropractor or sending your kids to one to help with FAVA pain?