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This is going to be an interesting story of the effects
of chiropractic care. I met Pat at our free postural
screening booth at the Peak Festival event this year.
Neither of us had any idea what changes would come
from that meeting.
Pat
had been having low back problems since the 90’s.
The pain would travel down the back of her leg. Pat
had been in pain so long that it was interfering with
her sleep pattern. Even doing the dishes was a strain.
Her life became a life of pain and discomfort—of
which she was constantly aware of. The pain level
had redirected the path of her life. She would not
drive her car or go shopping because she was in so
much pain and distress. Yet, her body had to deal
with the problem and she was not going to just lie
down and die. She was seen for fatigue by a local
MD who could not find a diagnosis.
A chiropractic examination revealed that she had misalignments
in her low back, and even her knee was out of alignment.
I was surprised I could not flex her right knee. Pat
let out a shout of pain when I tried to bend her knee
on the chiropractic table. She indeed had an alignment
problem with her knee joint. A simplistic way to look
at this situation is to say “the bones just
weren’t where they were supposed to be”.
There is a well established truth that applies to
all joints. As one tries to put a joint through the
normal range of motion, where the articulations are
not in the right alignment there will be pain and
irritation. That discomfort, if left untreated, can
develop into arthritis.
After
the second visit she could already see a huge difference.
Her knee could flex back and forth pain free and her
low back was already showing signs of keeping its
alignment. Those results were all good and we were
happy, but here is where it really gets exciting.
Since Pat began to feel so much better her life began
to change also. After years of smoking cigarettes
she decides to quit smoking cold turkey! As of this
writing she has been breathing “fresh air”
for two months solid. Her sleep pattern has come back
to a better cycle. It seems the cause of her fatigue
problem was relatively simple ... she wasn’t
getting enough sleep! When one goes to bed, one gets
comfortable and then dozes off. This is followed by
a deeper sleep called REM (Rapid Eye Movement).
In Pat’s case, forget REM sleep! Pat would go
bed and not find that comfortable spot. If she did
manage to nod off for an hour, it abruptly ended when
she moved in her sleep. Of course she was fatigued…she
had not slept a good solid nights sleep in months!
Something else I didn’t mention is that she
used to drive her car with the music blaring. I have
nothing against loud music, it’s just the reason
one has the music so loud. Case in point; it seems
Pat was trying to drown out the pain her body was
experiencing. She had been in pain so long that her
body had developed ways of its own to numb the pain
and discomfort. She had busied her life so much so
that the subtle, yet always present pain, didn’t
always grab her attention.
As she began to feel better, control of her life came
back to where it was manageable and not a burden.
She now had hope and a better view of life. She has
told me a number of times, “I didn’t
know how much pain I was in until I got out of pain.”
It was only after she was on the other side of that
huge wall of daily discomfort that she was to experience
a proper perspective of how her life can, and will
be.
All this change began on Salem Street at the Peak
Fest Event. It reestablished our faith that God has
put recuperative qualities in our body once interference
is removed. Thankfully Pat gave us the opportunity
to play a part in her changed life.
If
you want to give chiropractic a chance, do not hesitate
to contact our office. Give us a call at Chiropractic
First, (919) 303-2213 or visit our office at the Apex
Medical Park.
Dr. Patrick Gallagher
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