A good friend of mine suggested that if I didn't have a bone-related problem (as in a broken one), that I should try a chiropractor for my foot pain. My wonderfully wise father suggested that I look into cold laser therapy (which he found to be successful in relieving his back pain a couple of weeks ago). Today, I found a chiropractor who has the (relatively new) laser equipment, so I scheduled an appointment. I figured that we might as well get this show on the road; I really need to get some runs going again before May 6.
Dr. Steve (the very quiet and laid back chiropractor) looked at my foot and listened to my sad little tale about Friday's run. He then informed me that my foot was "almost completely jammed," and asked me if I would follow him into the other room for "an adjustment," if I was all right with that. I mentioned my hesitation (having never had an "adjustment" at a chiropractor's office) and he assured me that it wouldn't hurt. Dr. Steve even went so far as to tell me that a lot of people think that it feels good -- relieving tension and pressure, or some kind of crap like that.
I laid on the table and he started getting a very secure grip on my foot. Before I knew what happened, he had JERKED my foot, and therefore my entire left leg -- almost clean off of my body. I literally slid partially off of the table! My reaction? Ummm... I have a half marathon in 11 days, and will be NEEDING MY LEFT LEG STILL INTACT, Sir. Suddenly, CRACK -- what the?? he just did it again! And still, I had not yet experienced this "feels good -- relieving tension and pressure" that quiet, laid back Dr. Steve had spoken of earlier. This went on for a total of 6 "adjustments" and then he asked me to follow him back into the other room for the cold laser therapy. Clearly, I was somewhat hesitant to just jump up and follow along at this point. But since the laser treatment (which was my original reason for the appointment) was waiting in the other room, I went.
They put this laser on my foot for 5 minutes; no pain, no nothing (except for some really cool glasses that they made me wear, to protect my eyes from the laser). The machine turned off, and Dr. Steve's assistant informed me that I would probably want to schedule another laser treatment for Friday, and that I was free to go. I put my sock and shoe back on and stood up... there was substantially less pain in my foot than there had been 20 minutes earlier. No joke. I'm not saying that it's healed, because I can still feel where it's injured, but it is noticeably better and I am not really limping at this point. :) Let's just hope and pray that on Friday, I will be able to get in and out of there with just the laser treatment. Although, considering that my left leg is probably 1-2 inches longer than my right one after my "adjustments," who knows what I'll need.
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