C-R-A-C-K

For those of you who have been reading this blog for awhile, you might remember that last May I had my very first car accident. I rear-ended a guy who slammed on his brakes when a light turned yellow for him. I took my car in to get fixed, paying my $500 deductible and sticking $1,900 to The Man for the rest of the repairs (thank goodness for insurance).

However, since then I have had a few neck issues. I didn't think it was anything serious. "Oh it's just whiplash from the accident" etc etc. I had my roomate (who is a massage therapist) work on my neck from time to time. I thought I was fine.

But in the past month my neck was really starting to hurt. Like I would be merging on the freeway and I'd turn to see if any cars were on my left...and it really hurt to move my neck too far to the side. Ack! Everyone kept telling me to go see a chiropractor. But here where my hesitations:

1) If I go, I might never be able to stop going. I've heard that once you start seeing one, you have to keep going back to get re-aligned. I didn't really enjoy the thought of having to be dependent on someone to fix up my spine everytime it got out of whack.

2) Money - how expensive are these chiropractors? My auto insurance and my health insurance don't cover it, so it would be me footin' the bills.

3) Would it hurt??

But finally I couldn't take it anymore. One night last week I was at coffee with some buds and I got this horrible headache and felt like I was going cross-eyed. My friend told me later that the pressure from my out-of-place top vertebrae was pinching into my skull/head. Dude! This is crazy.

So the next morning I bit the bullet and called a recommended chiropractor in my area (Dr. Kerri). I made an appointment for the very next day. I was so nervous! I went to see her and she was very sweet and kind. I told her all my concerns and she was very understanding. Then she started feeling around my shoulders, neck, and back. "Sarah! You are SO tight!" she said. She definitely thought it was from my car accident. And since then my muscles have tried to compensate around the misplaced vertebrae and caused a mess.

So Dr. Kerri had me lie down on my back and started moving my neck around. "Tell me about your job," she said. "Oh, ok," I said. "Well, I work with college students at my church. I'm in my third year there and I was OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Because just at that moment, she quickly tweaked my neck from the far left over to the right. I heard this huge *C-R-A-C-K* right by my left ear. I was in such shock that she had done that without me knowing. So yes, the Lord's name was proclaimed quite loudly in her little office. (I might have freaked out the people in the waiting room)

But I have to tell ya: I immediately felt better! I felt a release of pain and could even imagine blood flowing back into my neck or something. It was so crazy! I started laughing and told her she had to do that every time...make me talk about something and then crack me when I'm not expecting it.

I am still a bit wary of this whole process, but for now I can say I'm glad I went. She taught me some stretching exercises for my neck to do at night. And I am going to see her once a week for four weeks to keep getting re-aligned until my muscles get used to the change. And then she thinks I won't have to go in after that.

Anyone else go to a chiropractor?