[Taso]

Howard,

sciatica is rough man. I was around 15 years old, my dad had just been ambulanced to the ER for back surgery, finding out that he had been suffering from sciatica and it was only getting worse (he couldn't even stand at this point) Well, 3 years later, and 3 surgeries later, and his leg is still numb from the scar tissue.

To get back to my point, I was 15, and while standing in his hospital room, I felt some pain in my leg. I ignored it for a month, talked to my mom, talked to the pediatrition...6 months and maybe 5 doctors later the neurologist told me I had sciatica (along with a congenital stenosis in my spine) and my L5 disc or whatever was herniated.

I did about 5 months of physical therapy, three times a week, with absoulutely no improvement.

After so many nights of extreme pain (wtf, I was never offered vicodin) we went back to my normal doctor and he said "well...I know this chiropractor, I trust him like a father." I hesitate to mention this, because of how biased people are against chiropractors, but:

After the 3rd visit (I was going three times a week at this point) I had gotten some temporary relief. They can usually fix the spine in 6-12 weeks. Mine took much longer, I went to him for, well, maybe two years, improving slightly all the time.

I can say now that I am lying here, on my back, and not in the god damn fetal posistion that I had to sleep in for over a year (opens up the spinal canal giving room to the nerves) in no pain whatsover, and I hardly feel a twinge of anything, ever. I still go back to him once every few months (whenever I'm in NY) if only because he became a friend (also because he helps me with other stuff - some nerve problems in my hand, whatev)

So when I started going to him, my dad, the MD scoffed it off, chiropractic is a joke. Meanwhile, he's had 3 surgeries and still has numbness in his leg. He knows I'm cured, and still refuses to go to the chiropractor. I mentioned this to Dr. Jacobs (my chiropractor) and he said he had a woman that had had 3 surgeries and he fixed her scar tissue in a matter of months.

My point here is, don't rule out chiropractic, I cannot speak highly enough of it, if you find a good doctor. . That spine-strechy machine is very important. The real key is finding a DC that does "cox" manipulation, on a special table.

Anyways, sorry for the long/serious post, but chiropractic really helped me, I was at an 8-9 on the pain scale, going through high school like that was terrible, and Dr. Jacobs cured me. Again, I can't speak highly enough.