My name is Alli, and I am a twenty six year old female. I work as a dietitian and nutritionist at a large hospital. I help patients make nutrition changes to improve their health. Three years ago, I moved to the east coast from the Midwest to escape the winter and enjoy warmer weather. I love the warm weather during the winter months because I am a competitive long distance runner. In fact, I competed on scholarship at a division one university for the cross country and track team during college. I have continued to develop my passion for long distance running, increasing my racing distance from five and ten kilometers to half and full marathons. I completed my first full marathon one year ago! In this article, I’d like to share my experience with chiropractic as an amazing way to deal with pain originated from running.
As an avid long distance runner, I have experienced my fair share of aches and pains. I typically try to run through little aches but have to halt when it turns into a painful injury. My problem spots are always my hamstrings and iliotibial bands (IT band). My hamstring and IT band issues started as a slight discomfort while running and escalated into a sharp pain in just three short weeks.
During these three weeks, I tried my best to rehabilitate it through the typical conventional methods like ice, anti-inflammatory medications, and stretching. I even went to a sports doctor who simply ordered an x-ray and then sent me on my way when there was nothing concerning on the x-ray. The pain continued to worsen every day and it started to affect my mood as I was no longer able to run without pain. For me (as for many people) running is not just a passion but also a stress reliever.
After diligent self-management with ice, stretching, and medication with no improvement, I decided to try the alternative medicine route and meet with a chiropractor and massage therapist. I had heard great things from former teammates about these alternative treatment options. Though I felt nervous, I was hopeful for my first chiropractor visit. I found the chiropractor through researching online local chiropractors that had experience with sports-related injuries. The chiropractor visit started with an intake form where I provided a detailed medical history, including past injuries. I then went over the intake form verbally with the chiropractor and we discussed what brought me in for the appointment. After pointing out my problem areas and describing my pain, the chiropractor had me lay down on the exam table to get adjusted.
He suggested that my spine and hips may be out of line which was affecting my running stride and causing the pain and tat chiropractic could help. The chiropractor instructed me to take deep breaths before adjustments, which were essentially quick and strong manipulations of my spike and hip areas. The adjustments did not hurt, and I actually felt immediate relief. I could feel my legs loosening up and the tight, sharp pain improving. The chiropractor then went on to trigger specific areas on my legs. He would manipulate these concentrated areas working on the tissue. This part was extremely painful, but I knew it was necessary to help with the pain. Again, afterwards I felt immediate relief.
The chiropractor did a great job of talking me through everything he was doing and explaining the reasoning for it. After my initial appointment, I was able to finally do some light, short runs without pain. I progressed to long, pain-free runs after three or four chiropractor appointments. The chiropractor strongly recommended I try massage therapy to help with any muscle tightness. He recommended massage therapists in the area that had been successful with his previous clients.
As it turns out, massage therapy ended up being a complete game changer for me. The massage therapist my chiropractor connected me with helped keep my body healthy to complete my first marathon. By triggering tight areas, the massage therapist was able to keep my running stride strong and efficient. I was recovering quicker from workouts and running the most I ever had in my life. I’m not sure I could have been as successful in my first marathon attempt without the massage therapy treatment.
Many times people suffer from physical setbacks that prevent them from doing things they used to be able to do. Personally I think that returning to an activity you love is one of the best feelings in the world. After multiple failed attempts to treat my injury through traditional practice, I finally found a treatment option that was successful.
Chiropractic practice was the answer to my running pain. I still go to the chiropractor when my legs start to feel tight. By treating the little aches and pains, I am able to avoid the intense pain that comes from running. Using alternative medicine practices such as chiropractic practices has given me back running. This, in turn, which in turn has added so much more joy back into my life.
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