I had a very interesting visit with the chiropractor/kineseologist today. When I’ve gone to Alice back home, I’m used to the muscle tests – pushing down or pulling at muscles to determine weaknesses and imbalances in the body. It’s really interesting how the body is all connected, and it’s all made sense before: but Dr. Teegarden used a new method today that kinda caught me off guard (not that I’m going to stop going to him or anything).
Well, first off, he tested a lot of the muscles and worked on them a lot: all down my leg (which felt really good: I could have had him do that all day, honestly) and up my back (he thought it was hurting me, but really I’m just insanely ticklish). He would have me lie on my back and lift up my leg – completely straight – and see how far it would go; he seemed confused as to why it was still so tight. He worked on it more – apparently there’s this layer - kind of like a shirt, he said - that covers the muscle and can get bunched in places – but it didn’t help. So he did more muscles tests: had me touch the area where the pain/tightness was while he pushed down on my arm. That did it: apparently there was something deeper there.
That’s when things started getting…new. Before I go on, I want y’all to know that I am perfectly aware of how crazy and weird this all sounds; still, I trust Dr. Teegarden and I’m not trying to call him a quack doctor or anything. Just sharing an experience.
Anyway.
He started by telling me we were going to be going deeper today, more into kinesiology, then started talking about stress. There are different kinds of stress in our lives – emotional, physical, etc. – but the body reacts to them all in the same way and with the same methods. So he thought that my body might have made an emotional connection with the injury (yes, I know how ridiculous this sounds) because of some stress, and that was preventing it from healing. So he started testing the different body systems by touching a focal point for each one while pushing down on my arm. Each one was weak except the liver; that apparently signified anger, frustration, or something along those lines. Then he started narrowing things down to find the root of the problem. He’d say something like “anger at family and friends” and then push down on my wrist. If it stayed strong, he tried something else. If he was able to push it down, he kept going in that direction. It was interesting, to say the least…I don’t know if it actually worked, but I guess we’ll see in the next few days.
Apparently I am angry at myself for not having the same kind of experience at Pageant this last summer as I did the year before (which is true: I just didn’t think it could affect a physical injury). So he had me close my eye, touch the liver-area-focal-point…thing…and just take deep breaths in and out while focusing on that anger. And that was it. I guess it was meant to release the anger, so that the body no longer connects it with the injury and my leg will be allowed to heal.
So…yeah. It sounds really quack-doctor-y, I know (trust me, I know). And I’m neither advocating nor decrying it. Just sharing. At least I know it isn’t a trick, not like the energy band thing where they totally fool you into thinking it actually gives you more strength. Liz (roommate Liz) told me about it: they don’t have you wear it and push on your hands. Then they have you wear it and do the same thing, and you’re magically stronger! *sarcasm*
…really, you just know what to expect the second time around.
With this, when he was asking what I might be harboring anger at myself about, I honestly thought some of the stuff might be it, but it turned out it wasn’t. And I was pushing just as much each time. I thought of the energy bands thing and consciously tried to resist, it just…didn’t work. And he tells you each time exactly what he’s going to be doing, so you know what to expect each time. So maybe this anger is still alive and kicking, and affecting my leg. Maybe it’s not. Either way, he gave me a few exercises to do that will flex muscles to naturally push the disc back in place. So if this whole anger-therapy doesn’t work, that should do the trick. :)
Also, there is apparently a difference between Kinesiology and Applied Kinesiology. The former is the study of how the human body works. The latter is “an alternative medicine method used for diagnosis and determination of therapy” (to quote Wikipedia). So now you know.
Frankly, I still trust Dr. Teegarden more than Dr. Bacon, the ‘normal,’ orthopedic doctor. Because Dr. Teegarden is actually working to move the disc back into place, whereas the orthopedics with their blasted epidermals and ‘modern medicine’ are just trying to make it stop hurting. I keep thinking of that song from Next to Nowhere, when they declare the woman mentally stable once she’s so drugged up she feels absolutely nothing…ugh. *shudder* Alice has fixed tons of problems ‘normal’ doctors haven’t even acknowledged, so forgive me if I still trust a good kinesiologist with my health more so than any other doctor. They really do know a ton about how the body works, and they’re able to apply that knowledge to keep everything where it’s supposed to be!
….I’ll step off my soapbox now. That’s a rant for another day. ;D
