patient of the month

            I first visited a chiropractor in my teens when I had twisted my back playing sports.  It was that first experience where I responded quickly to chiropractic adjustment that established my faith in chiropractic care.   It was years later in my late 20’s that I next needed care as a result of wrenching my back splitting firewood.  I did not heal quite so quickly after that episode.  Age does make a difference!  From the x-rays at the time I learned I have a slight curvature of the spine and my neck is far too straight vs. having the ideal curvature God designed us to have.   Over weeks of regular adjustment I regained my motion and was pain-free once again.  I continued regular maintenance for several months but as I suspect is typical, I “fell off the wagon” at some point since so long as we “feel good” we rationalize all is well.  I admit that over the ongoing 30+ years I repeated that cycle several times.  Now I hope I have learned.   When I recently woke up with an extremely painful neck, and it not getting better during the day, I tried to call my previous chiropractor only to learn he has limited hours in his semi-retirement.  Fortunately, my wife has been a patient of Dr. Outten for several years and was able to get me an appointment the next morning.  The normal exams were impressive from a couple of perspectives.  The technology has progressed tremendously since my earliest chiropractic experience.  I was able to see the areas of inflammation clearly on the Static EMG and Rolling Thermal scans.  I just completed my third re-exam and the progress is obvious from the graphical analysis.  It really does reinforce your sense of improvement.  The treatments have also progressed from just the rolling machine and adjustment table; the electrical stimulation and “impact fork” (my terminology) coupled with the traditional adjustments are a significant enhancement. 

It has now been 2 months of continued improvement and I am virtually pain-free once again.  I still have spinal curvature and lack of neck curvature and these past 50+ years have added arthritis here and there.  What I have learned is at any instant a twist, a slip, or just laying in bed the wrong way can cause an immediate problem.  I am also convinced the best defense is to maintain continued chiropractic care coupled with appropriate exercises to strengthen the muscular support system to help the skeletal structure perform its job.

I want to express my gratitude to Dr. Outten and his staff for the care and treatments they have provided.