Chiropractors and Physical Therapists
I have this bad habit of sleeping on my stomach with my right leg out. My chiropractor has told me for years – don’t do this! I also used to have a REALLY BAD habit of sitting on my left leg. You know… folding it up on your chair, underneath you. Again, my chiropractor “called it” and knew I did that just by the issues with my hip.
I had stopped the habit, and was sleeping really good. I was doing really well with all the workin’ out … and lately, I think I just got lazy with my sleeping and sitting. I’ve caught myself, in the last couple weeks, sleeping on my stomach with my leg out, AND sitting on my left leg. :O Seriously, what is wrong with me???
Sure enough, my hip got off. I didn’t really feel it in my hip as much as I felt it in my knee. The last few days my right knee was really giving me some serious pain. I had a knee injury a few years back, and now I wonder if it was due to my hip being off… the knee was misaligned, and got injured (it happened riding a bike).
Yesterday I went to the chiropractor, and he said my hip was seriously jacked. He does funky lil moves to check your range of motion. My left leg/foot could turn in, my leg couldn’t. If you are familiar with chiropractors, you probably also know the infamous “strength test.” This is where you hold up your leg or arm, or whatever they are testing, and they push down while you try to hold it up. He did this to me yesterday. My left leg did great, held it up, he pushed down, it didn’t drop. My right leg however, wasn’t so strong. He pushed it, and BAM… went right down. The good part is, he knew exactly what/where to adjust.
He fixed me up… did a lil “cracking” here and there… and I was outta there feeling like a million bucks! 🙂
Then… I went to sleep. : (
Gosh darn, I screwed it up in my sleep again. I was trying so hard to sleep “correctly” and follow all of the rules I was given. No sleeping on the stomach, pillow between the legs… Apparently I didn’t do something right. Woke up again with knee pain and my knee hurt all day walking around.
Thankfully, I remembered how well physical therapy helped me last time I had this problem.
Last fall I went through the same issues. My chiropractor referred me to an excellent physical therapist. This guy is great. He does manipulation and needle therapy. That’s right… NEEDLE THERAPY!! Ouch. Yes, it’s a little painful… but I’m telling you, it works.
What he does is checks the spine, hip, etc. He makes sure you are in the correct alignment. If not, he will adjust you. Then comes the needles. The theory of the needles is that if you jam a needle into the tight muscle spasm, the muscle will relax. They discovered this back when people were getting cortisone shots. Basically, they discovered that the muscle spasm would respond to the “shot” even without the cortisone injection. Just having the needle puncture the muscle knot was enough to cause the muscle to relax.
So… after I got adjusted, he pulled out about 6-7 needles and jammed that in my butt! GASP! If that is not a humbling experience I don’t know what is.
I pretty much laid there for 10 minutes and let them just chill out in the muscle. ha. After a bit, he came in and pulled ’em all out… did some message work, and then sent the tech in to ultrasound the area. Again… I got up feeling like a million bucks! Okay, maybe two million bucks today! 😉
Seriously – it works! I am hoping this adjustment holds better due to also relaxing the muscles around it. This is something that the chiropractor doesn’t do (well, unless you also see a massage therapist there). All I know is last fall when I was having this issue, a few trips to the Physical Therapist and I was all better! 🙂
I have another check up on Friday after work… crossing my fingers. All I gotta say is Thank God for Chiropractors and Physical Therapists!
Also, if you are experiencing knee pain… seriously consider getting the alignment of your hips checked out! It’s worth it!
Dinner
I came home and made a delicious low-carb, high protein dinner.
Egg whites, chicken sausage, spinach and green pepper!
I love al fresco chicken sausage! It makes dishes like these super yummy and healthy! Al fresco sausages are all natural and MSG FREE! Yay, I can eat it!
Mmmm!
Dessert was chocolate chia protein pudding!
It was so good, I practically licked the bowl!
I’m thinking I’m gonna have to make this pudding my recovery meal from now on! It’s MUCH MORE satisfying then just a whey protein shake! 😉
Recipe…
Chocolate Chia Protein Pudding
Ingredients:
- 2 TBS chia seeds
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
- 1 TBS cocoa powder
Directions:
Put the chia seeds in a bowl, and add almond milk. Let it sit in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes or until the chia seeds turn gel-like. Then, pull it out and add the protein powder and cocoa powder. Stir it up good and Whola! There ya have it. Simple. Healthy. And satisfies that chocolate craving! 😉
Coffee House Hopper 