As with anyone who is entering their 30's it seems like my back is no longer always my best friend. Oh, we get along fine most days but sometimes we have a fight and then there are hard feelings for weeks afterwards. A couple of years ago my lower back started to hurt, then my bum, then my leg and before long the pain reached all the way to my foot. You know that feeling when you hit your funny bone? This felt like that, all the way from my tailbone to my toes, only about a bazillion times as strong. It would come out of nowhere. The worst times were always when I would shift my weight while driving, hurt like the dickens. I finally decided I needed some help, in some way or another, and I spoke to my family doctor. She told me to do yoga and use heat and ice. I did. All the yoga did was make my back yell at me louder, and I think, mockingly. The heat and ice seemed to just annoy him and eventually I just decided I had to live with it. Sciatica is common, people deal. Eventually it reached the point where I was willing to look outside my normal comfort zone. My step mother has seen a chiropractor and loves it so I made an appointment. I will not name this chiropractor, they were a very lovely office and personally I liked them very much. They had information on their website however that said: "There is no proof that vaccines actually prevent the disease they are designed to vaccinate." I was also told that aligning my spine would help with my anxiety issues and my varicose veins. ... I am not one to poo poo on anyone else's beliefs. Scout's honor here. However, these beliefs don't mirror my beliefs and I can't feel comfortable trusting a doctor if we have such varying philosophical differences. This would be where Dr. Hunter comes in. He is with Harbin Clinic, I already use Harbin for my family so I'm ok so far. He is a chiropractor though. My entire life I have been painted a picture of what Chiropractor's are and my first visit to one did nothing to change that canvas. In fact the colors might have actually gotten more distinct. (Did I mention that the first Chiropractor was very nice? They were; the entire office was adorable. I just couldn't ... Just couldn't) My very first words to him, as untactfully blunt as they were, were: "You see my Mom and she told me you aren't a quack." God bless the man he took it in stride and actually seemed amused. I then pelted him with questions about his personal beliefs about vaccines, alternative medicine, actual medicine, and every thing else I needed to know if I am going to trust a doctor with the care of my being. After talking to me for a few minutes, answering every question I could think of and offering some answers I didn't even know I had questions about, he palpated my back and was right on about where it hurt. He also told me he didn't think I actually had Sciatica, he said I had "pseudo sciatica." Hmmmmmm. Nothing is pseudo about your back shooting bullets through your tail bone and down your leg for the fun of it buddy. He told me that pseudo sciatica has all the same symptoms of sciatica but the cause is muscular and not due to a vertebrae. I made a mental note that I owed him an apology for everything I was thinking about him, his dog, his mother and wherever he was born. He did an adjustment on my back and neck and then sent me across the office to a massage therapist who rubbed my hip for a while. Then I saw another massage therapist who rubbed my back for a bit. When I left I was a bit sore, which is normal after some deep tissue massage, but I felt better than I had in weeks. That afternoon I drove from Rome to Cartersville and back and shifting weight in my seat never hurt once. In fact I slept better than I had in a long time and the next day I was amazed at the difference. Am I cured? No. I carry stress and tension in my muscles and that pulls on vertebrae and nerves and everything else. Unless you can figure out a way to rid my life of stress it's going to happen. I do however have a treatment now that actually works. So what if I need to go every so often. I feel better, and that is what matters. read more