TN50#154_Snap Crackle Pop – Option 1_21 February 2024
Hi Team,
About a month or so ago, I woke up with something awry in my left (L) upper back, it was tight from my C-Spine out to my L shoulder and my L shoulder blade felt like someone had their fingers digging in to the medial side trying to get a grip on it. When I tilted my head to the L my tinnitus would get louder, like someone was turning up the volume on a car radio. The cause? No idea. I wondered if I’d unknowingly passed by a witch doctor who’d put lizard eggs in my back, but that’s a story for another time.
Happy Monday and welcome to The Next 50 #154. I like to think of personal performance in 3 components: physical, mental and emotional. My frameworks focus on 4 Buckets: Eat, Sleep, Move and Think. This blog is my sandbox for sharing information that you might find useful for your personal performance.
This was not my first rodeo regarding this L shoulder situation, not my second or even fifth; but it was the worst, or maybe a better way to say it is the LOUDEST, the tinnitus component has ever been. In my experience this meant that I had some mis alignment in my spine AND my L shoulder was also a little bit or a lot out of socket. Based on how my arm was moving I’d say the L shoulder wasn’t out much.
No big deal-ish, I immediately started using all the DIY protocols imaginable, traction, aka hanging from the pull up bar, Thera Cane, all the trigger-point do-dads, soft roller, sauna…
No joy, it made me think back to Lethal Weapon, where Mel Gibson’s character could dislocate his shoulder and slam it into a pillar to pop it back in! Not that I would ever do that but it did come in handy for Mel as I recall and instant relief would have been amazing!
After about 10 days of DIY work not completely working, I made the call to Dr. Jon, my chiropractor. Within 20 minutes of assessment and manipulation he’d fixed the shoulder, creak, creak, fixed the neck, snap, adjusted my thoracic spine, crack, and my hips, pop. The knotted-up muscles in my shoulder and back immediately started to release and the audible tone I could hear when I tilted my head was gone! Post manipulation he peppered my upper left back with dry needles and followed that up with some good old EMS, electrical muscle stimulation and heat. Life is good!
I’ve heard a lot or horror stories from people over incompetent chiropractors, and experienced some poor-quality care myself. I also know a lot of people who have had their life changed by a high quality, high care chiropractor like mine. I’ve been fortunate to have physical therapist, like T, aka The Angel of Pain, and Dr Jon who aren’t afraid to crack a bone back into place from time to time. So whether you are a fan of manual manipulation and realignment or against it just know at some point the only way you are going to get relief from pain will be through getting your body back into alignment. There are a lot of ways and systems to approach a problem like this; for me, having a high-quality, high care chiropractor like Dr. Jon on speed dial is option 1.
If you are in the Denver AO, Dr Jon owns, The Center for Sport, Sport & Physical Medicine, in Lone Tree; and you can set up an appointment by calling: 303 290 8342.
Tell him I sent you and let me know how it goes.
If you are somewhere else, I might be able to help you find a doc worth checking out, just reply to this email and let me know your details.
Who do you know that could use this information? I bet you can think of a couple of folks before you click the next email!
As always share the post with your team and anyone who might find it useful and let me know what you think!
Have a good one, Alex
PS. If you have a Performance question I can answer? Let me know: alex@fpp.llc
PPS. If you’re new to First Principles Performance Coaching, here’s a one stop shop for all my stuff.
