Mike's on ice

I went to see the voodoo doctor, the chiropractor, about my back today. I was skeptical going in because I've been there before and they always want to schedule about ten appointments right away. They scheduled me for 12. Holy smokes. They might as well just set up a cot in the back room for me.

But I'm going to give them a chance because they might actually be able to help. Here's the interesting part: when I went to the physical therapist for the first time he asked if my right leg was longer than my left. I said no. When I had my bike fitting, they asked if my right leg was longer than my left. I said I don't think so. Today, the voodoo doc told me my right leg was an inch longer. Great, I thought. I need special shoes. So she cracked my lower back and hips and checked my legs again and said they were even. My hips were misaligned. Coolio. No special shoes.

She also said I had some vertebrae in the middle of my back that were out of alignment, and those are the ones that contain the nerves that go to your knees. The pieces of the puzzle are coming together. Tendinitis?

It's all connected. The human body, that is. The hip bone is connected to the knee bone. The knee bone is connected to the neck bone. The neck bone...or however it goes.

They started out by scanning my back and showing me an image on the computer of the muscles in my back that were spasming and the intensity (red being the worst). The entire right side of my back was in a full on spasm. Solid red. The left wasn't as bad, but there was plenty of red. Then they hooked me up to some goofy machine that sent a current through my lower back to loosen up the muscles. They also threw on some ice packs and I heard the doctor say, "Mike's on ice. I'm going to develop his x-rays." Mike's on ice. I like that.

They gave me some voodoo cream I have to put on my back before bed, and I'm going back in on Friday. And then 3 times a week, probably until I die...which might be at the Ironman next year. It's a $15 co-pay each time I go. This may turn out to be the biggest financial commitment of my life... unless I die at the Ironman next year...which we can't rule out yet.

I wanted to work out today, but I decided to take my physical therapist's advice and listen to my body. My back was saying no, no, no. So I took another day off, and should be back to training tomorrow. Hopefully next week I'll be able to get in some good, hard workouts to make up for this week. The IM is still 11 months out so I'm not going to let a few missed workouts get to me. I'm sure there will be more because I never make it through a winter without getting sick.