11/16
Friday I took my first long hike in exactly 3 months---- 7.8 miles at Pt. Reyes with my friends Henry & Skip. Time to start getting back from slug to stud.
I did learn one interesting thing that I thought would be worth sharing. Just in case you ever have a serious injury. You never know-- I certainly didn't think I was going to break my leg.
When I returned from Maine with my broken fibula, I called my friend Robinn, who I walk with on Mondays, to let her know we wouldn't be doing that for awhile. She insisted that I see her chiropractor husband, Larrie Goldsmith, who has worked on me previously, before I see the orthopedist. She said that he had lots of experience with people in my situation.
I was a bit puzzled, as you might be, as to why one would see a chiropractor for a broken leg bone. But trusting in her judgment, I went to see Larrie.
He explained to me that, besides breaking the fibula, I had likely displaced or otherwise injured lots of the small bones and ligaments in my foot, ankle and leg. He was not going to work on the break itself., but rather all of the other little things around it.
He did about 30 or 40 manipulations, mostly in my foot and ankle, and a few in the lower leg and one or two in the upper leg. Each time he did one, I went "oh!"-- it felt like something was being put back where it belonged. Not only that, but when I went in I had almost no mobility in my foot-- by the time I left I could wiggle my toes and move my ankle and I felt much more balanced on my feet. Also, though I was grimacing in anticipation of pain, not a single one of them hurt, even when he warned me it might.
Larrie explained that once the orthopedist put my leg in a cast, everything else would just freeze in place, or rather displaced. Then, when my foot later came out of the cast, they might want me to do "therapy" to get the movement back, but it was better to fix everything in advance of the cast.
I asked the orthopedist what he thought of this. He said it wouldn't hurt, but he seemed skeptical that it would actually help. But it sure felt to me like it helped a lot.
So--- I doubt that every chiropractor is as skilled in this as Larrie, but if you should break a bone--- or even get a serious sprain-- you might want to visit a good chiropractor before it gets put in a cast.
That's all. Happy holidays.
Phil T. read more