I’m Michael and I am a 34-year old marketing professional based in Taipei. I am originally from Texas but have been living in Taiwan for over a decade. About 2 years ago, I had gone through a tough breakup and was looking to make new friends. I was browsing events on Meetup when I saw a free outdoor exercise event. It sounded interesting. So, I decided to give it a shot. Little did I know I was going to end up with a sports injury or that chiropractic was going to help me address it.
We met up at a local park. There were 6 of us including the trainer. The workout was an hour and a half of continuous exercises with short breaks. There were moments I felt exhausted and wanted to give up but seeing everyone pushing kept me going. I ended up feeling sore for a week. But it was also kind of fun, so I decided to go back. I started attending once per week, then two times then three. I made a lot of friends and became more involved in the group. It gave me a sense of community and belonging.
The group attracts people of all fitness levels. But the core members are extremely fit and often sign up for races and fitness competitions. I wanted to keep up, so I started working out harder. One day I saw some guys doing muscle-ups in the park. It looked really impressive. A muscle-up is when you start by doing a pull-up and then push your entire body up over the bar. I thought it would be cool to do a muscle-up, so I started searching for tips online. I came across a 12-week training program and decided to give it a try.
One morning during the later weeks of training, I tried to squeeze a few extra reps in. That’s when I felt a soreness develop in my right shoulder. I often felt sore after workouts, so I didn’t think much of it. I kept working out regularly; mostly ignoring the pain. One day we were throwing around a football when I felt a pain shoot across my shoulder. That’s when I decided to do something about it.
I tried resting and cutting back on exercise, but that didn’t help. Then I started asking friends for advice. Many of them had experienced previous sports injuries. One friend said she went to see a doctor, who gave her steroids, and the pain went away. But that didn’t sound too appealing to me. Another believed I had injured my rotator cuff and recommended watching a video about how to treat it. Finally, one friend recommended his chiropractor. He said chiropractic had helped him recover from a previous sports injury. I took his advice and tried scheduling an appointment. Turns out he was completely booked for the next 5 weeks. I scheduled it anyways.
Five weeks later I went to the appointment. The chiropractor starts by asking me where I was hurting. I told him I had injured my rotator cuff. He was surprised by that diagnosis and asked how I knew that. He then started performing a series of tests and instructed me to hold my arms in various positions. Then he would push or pull on them and wanted me to push or pull back. By gauging how hard I could push in each direction, and if it was causing pain, he was able to pinpoint the location of my injuries. He explained that I had injured a strip of muscle on the right side of my neck that extended all the way down to my back. I was shocked. I didn’t realize my injuries were so extensive. The good news was that the muscles weren’t torn; just a bit tight.
For treatment he started massaging the injured spots in my neck and shoulder. He used both his hand and a massage gun that delivered sharp painful punches to my sore muscles. He then taught me some stretches to do at home and encouraged me to keep exercising to recover faster. Sure enough, within a few months the pain went away, and I am now back to full strength. Chiropractic did solve my sports injury!
I learned several important lessons. First, I need to listen to my body. Pain is the body’s way of telling us something is wrong. So, we shouldn’t ignore or push through the pain. Next, when starting an exercise program, don’t push too hard too fast. Finally, I should go see a professional for help. It turns out the chiropractor didn’t just make the pain go away; he taught me how to take better care of my body.
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