I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus from my beloved circus school for the past 6 weeks.  I’d love to say that this break was solely the result of the school moving locations.  Though the school closure is a fact, the truth is that I injured my back.

As someone who has never dealt with any type of back pain, this was a new experience for me; and not a pleasant one.  By all accounts, my injury was fairly minor and did not cause any nerve or disc damage to speak of.  And though I was happy to hear that it was nothing serious, my heart goes out to those who have to deal with this, and more severe pain, on a regular basis.

For those of you who have had back pain, you have probably explored many types of treatment.  However, this was a new world for me.  When my coach suggested that I see a chiropractor, my initial reaction was to cringe and reply skeptically, “A what?”.

Ever since I was a child, I have grown up with this kind of fear of chiropractic medicine.  Whether this resulted from watching too many 60 Minutes or Dateline episodes, I couldn’t say.  But I can say that the dreaded “Crack” of the chiropractor was never a particularly pleasant story.  This, coupled with the fact that my past injury experience has always been with physiotherapists, I remained skeptical.  However, in this case, my coach convinced me to at least give her chiropractor a try.

I have now had about 6 sessions with the chiropractor.  Recovery has been somewhat of an upward climb, and not without some bumps in the road (Note to self: don’t sneeze!!).  However, it has been a rather positive experience; albeit very different from what I was used to.

I found that chiropractic treatment is a far more active form of treatment on the part of the practitioner.  I think my chiropractor worked up a bigger sweat than I did while I was doing my exercises!  She chose to use Active Release Therapy (ART) to treat the stiffness in my hip and the pain in my back.  This soft tissue treatment approach was an approach that I wouldn’t even expect from a physiotherapist.  And though I still find it painful to go through this treatment, it is a good kind of pain; a sort of active or participatory massage. I have also noticed that with ART, I can get almost immediate results.  What could be better than that?!

However, it’s important for me to mention that even though ART seems to yield very quick results, it is up to me to maintain the improvement.  It’s up to me to do my assigned exercises at home in order to continue to recover from my injury.  Like any form of treatment, at some point, it is up to the patient to do what they can to supplement the treatment that was given to them by their practitioner.  At the end of the day, it’s you who will have to deal with the injury or disease and it’s up to you to choose how you want to live with it.

So all in all, though I continue to receive skeptical remarks from friends and family, my chiropractic experience was a positive one.  And though I’m sure there is variation in philosophy among chiropractic doctors, I do believe that there are a few out there who aren’t, to put it in the words of my own chiropractor, quacks.  Do your research, get references from people you trust, and above all, don’t be afraid to say no to your chiropractor (or any doctor) if you aren’t comfortable with the treatment that they’re proposing.

I’m sure you’ll all be hapy to hear that my back is feeling much better now; and without even a single crack!