pinched nerve in neck | Aussie Emjay's Blog

I've been a bit of a slack-arse on vox lately. It's not because I've been off doing anything super exciting but rather because I have been limiting my time at the computer since developing a neck and shoulder "issue".

For a week I felt stiff above my left shoulder blade and then some vague pains started going down my arm and then they got worse and I was getting less and less sleep at night. Last Sunday I had 4 hours interrupted sleep and realised that my general philosophy of letting things get better on their own was not going very well; so on Monday I sought help from a Chiropractor.

The last time I went to one was about 7 years ago when I woke up one morning and could barely move. After many minutes of pathetic struggling I got myself out of bed to discover that I could only stand or lie and that anything in-between was basically impossible. It was not really painful but it was certainly debilitating. I could not go to a doctor because I could not bend in the middle to get into a car. I had never been to a chiro before and was actually quite wary of them but I was really desperate and there was one a couple of blocks from home. It took me nearly half an hour to walk there as I travelled the same speed as a tortoise. He got me into shape enough to go to work in 3 days and then did a few more manipulations and that was that – no back problems since.

Until now ….

This chiro is a block from the office; his name is Dr Weiner. I ignore his name because I'm pretty sure I would pronounce it incorrectly.

He took x-rays and has his little light box set up right next to a poster with x-rays in columns. So, when he puts your deformed bones up it reads across as Emjay, normal and then 3 stages of deterioration….. you get to see exactly how deviated from normal you are. This is a bit like going to counselling and finding that you have issues way bigger to worry about than you thought!

I'm pretty sure that basically all of us will go to the grave with deviations we won't ever know about and which will never give a problem. But it's a bit disconcerting to see yourself posed against perfection.

So I have now had 3 visits - there is quite a bit of improvement during the day but I'm still only getting short stretches of sleep before being woken by pain. It's getting bloody tiring. I will give him this week but after that I might have to seek medical advice.

One of my sons gave me a gorillapod (tripod) for my birthday. I wish I was as flexible!