Does age really matter?

I am 27 years old.

I've had to keep telling myself that so I don't forget. I really have never been good at keeping track of age. Why does it matter so much anyways?

Someone recently told me that it doesn't matter how old you are but how old your spine is and I guess my spine is twice my age. 

Life has been pretty tough on me these past couple months. I had no idea what was wrong with me but I knew I was in a bad place.

My spine. My spine has been slowly degenerating for the past 7 years and I had absolutely no clue, until this last month that is. But let's not get ahead of the story.

About 3 months ago I started experiencing extreme back pain with a tingling feeling down my legs and then my toes would go numb.

Scary, right? That's when I decided it was time to do something about it.

When your nerves start getting affected by your pain, you know it's not good.

This was hard for me. I've always been a fighter, someone who can bare pain and not be a sissy about it. Well, this pain had gotten unbearable. I made a visit to see my doctor but had to wait a few weeks, of course.

I waited patiently, trying to stay calm and collected but the week before my appointment I caved from the pain and bought myself a deep tissue massage and let me tell you, it was the most painful massage I've ever had! But well worth it for how good I felt for the next couple days afterwards, before the pain came back with a vengeance.

The next week, I see my primary physician and she basically told me what I already expected but it was good to confirm that I should be seen by a chiropractor for my pain. So the next day I called the chiropractor she recommended and made an appointment for the next Thursday.. well that was a week away and at the time I thought "I can make that!" but I was wrong.

LITERALLY the next day I started experiencing the most unbearable pain I've ever had to deal with. I could hardly move without shooting pains down my back and legs, I couldn't even move my head to look past my shoulder without the pain shooting down my spine.

I was screwed and it was the weekend so no chiropractic office was open, a massage would have to do! Off I went to see another massage therapist who worked on my muscles and tried to relax the pain in my back. It worked for about an hour or so until I started feeling the pain come back.

Sunday was the worst day of my life. I was crying out from the pain it was that bad.

I felt so bad for my loving boyfriend who just wanted to help but couldn't. He made my day as comfortable as he could for me and I'm so thankful for him because it sucked! I couldn't stand up straight, I was hunched over like an old lady and could never find a comfortable way to rest.

My body was screaming at me and I was screaming at myself for not taking that pain more seriously like 3 months ago.

I had to cancel work the next morning and sent a message to my chiropractor about what was going on and if they could see me Monday morning.

I got a call the next morning telling me to come in and I was ecstatic!

A couple tests, x-rays and my first adjustment was done. Quick and simple and I was on the road to recovery. I was astonished at how those little adjustments he did had made an incredible difference. I was still in pain, but it was back to bearable.

I saw him again that Thursday and we went over my x-rays and did another adjustment. I finally got to visually see what the hell was going on with me to cause so much pain.

My spinal disc was degenerating and I started to get a slight form of scoliosis. This has caused my vertebra that is just above my sacrum to overlap it (pictures provided). The chiropractor said he thinks this has been going on for the past 7 years!

But to really know how this started, I have no clue. (Well, bad posture over multiple years and then that damn fence hitting my lower back just last year!) But, at least I know now and can stop the process and get back on track with living my life without pain.


What I've been able to take away from all this that I can hopefully encourage others to do and not have to go through so much pain: Take care of yourselves and if you think something is wrong, do something about it!

Don't be afraid of the doctor, as I admit I was myself. But also make sure that your doctor has your long living health in mind! My doctor said she was the only doctor she knew that recommends chiropractic work, man am I lucky I found her! Some doctors would have just prescribed a steroid injection! Like, for real?!

So do your research on your doctors and whatever form of health care you choose to do, because they don't always have your over all health in mind.

I will be forever grateful for how caring and patient both my doctor and chiropractor have been. They've both given me such good advice on helping my body heal and how to live a long and healthy life.

Remember always to be conscious about your posture because your spinal age is more important than your real age.


P.S. I will be posting pictures of my x-rays once I am finished with my treatment plan in a few more weeks!