Crunchier with time

Tyler: Should be interesting.  All this dude does is acupuncture. Told me the decrease in yang is reason.

Me: It's worth a shot, right? Chiropractor coming in now...

(Several minutes later...)

Tyler: What did you get me into?


These were the text messages exchanged between Tyler and myself yesterday afternoon.  Around noon, he had come home from the office, bent over like the stereotypical sitcom character with a thrown-out back, unable to stand or raise his arms.   We called Dr. Sobor, a doctor in pain management who spoke at a Holistic Moms Network meeting about a year ago.  Dr. Sobor specializes in using Western medicinal techniques combined with modern research to heal the source of pain, rather than simply prescribing pain relievers to mask the symptom.  When he handed out his information at the meeting a year ago, I held on to his card, convinced that some day, when Tyler finally couldn't stand his back pain any longer, he would be the person to see.


Dr. Sobor was working at his office in Glenview yesterday, so Tye and I drove Tyler up to see him. We walked (or hobbled, according to ability) into the office and Tyler was immediately shown to a room.  About five minutes later, we texted the above exchange.  Twenty minutes after that, Tye and I peeked into Tyler's room.  There he was, laying face down on a massage table his underwear and a hospital gown (Oh, how I wish I had a picture of that!).  Sticking out of his lower back were a dozen needles, half of which were hooked up to a box with mini jumper cables.  Two of them pulsed on and off every second.  A space heater was working hard in the corner, already creating a sauna effect to help loosen Tyler's muscles.


"How's it going?" I asked.  


"Uh, it's really uncomfortable, but if it works, I'll do this every day."


Already breaking a sweat, Tye and I left the room.  After another half hour, Dr. Sobor and the chiropractor went back into Tyler's room.  Not long after, I heard Tyler yelling, but clearly not in pain.  For those of you who know Tyler, you know that hearing him a room away is nothing unusual, so I didn't think much of it.  When Tyler finally emerged several minutes later, he was standing upright, walking easily.  He raised his arms over his head and proclaimed, "I'm a believer!"


Tyler was shown a list of stretches to complete twice daily, and we headed home.  In the car, he told me the yelling was him yelling "Ahhh!  Thank you!!!" to the chiropractor when he adjusted Tyler's back and Tyler found relief instantly.  The acupuncture had worked to loosen the muscles that were creating strain on his back, with the electric pulses functioning like a super-intense deep-tissue massage.  When he was finally adjusted, his back fell back into alignment.  He'll need a series of treatments and lots of stretching to stay pain-free.  But because the services Tyler received yesterday focused on healing the source of the pain rather than masking the symptom, he's moving in the right direction.  


And now that Tyler is regularly seeing both a chiropractor and acupuncturist, I can say that my husband is just about as crunchy as I am.