I'm writing again - yay?
Life is finally slowing down a little - as it will so often do this time of year. It'll pick up again before long, rest assured. We've cattle yearning to leave the mountain pasture, basketball waiting around the corner with the practice schedules, and of course school trips. For now, though, we are at a calm and I can take a few minutes to resume the written accounts. With luck, I might just be able to share the whole of the summer. For now, I'm going to share my most recent of accounts - my first meeting with Dale Knobb of Knobb's Chiropractic LLC.
Knobbs Chiropractic is one of the sponsors for some of the bigger races I try to attend - the most recent of which was the Mile Hi finals - The DR Horton Classic. My lower back was at an all time high in pain (not the first time - it's parr for the course considering my past) so I paid his table a visit. He asked about the pain and the start, I explained I'd been shoeing horses - he said, "So you're a farrier" My reply was "Somewhat, I just shoe my own horses now."
He told me to lay down and he'd see what he could do. Me - gullible me - thought he was just going to work on the back.
Ha!
First thing he does is grab both my ankles and twist. Ouch doesn't go through my head quite as fast as the tensing reflex of my left leg, a reflex years in the training - so much training that pain doesn't register with the twisting of the ankle anymore.
He asks "Did you recently turn your left ankle?"
My reply, "Nope, I have a dislocated tendon in that one."
His return, "That explains how loose it is."
"Yeah," I start to say as his hand takes hold of my neck and I hear 14- I'm sure it was 14 (that was the number that came to mind) -cracks both ways.
"Have any headaches lately?" He asked. There was instant clarity to the back of my head - a portion of which has felt a little heavy of late.
Before I can answer he's going down the back. I don't recall any one chiropractor drawing so many sounds from one back before. And I think he even nailed the pain in the lower back but I'm still recovering and savoring the newly found clarity of the head.
"Everything goes in easy enough," he says. "Very easy to work on." I might have had a reply but he was already moving to the shoulders and I'm finding that answering him in a slow polite manner just isn't going to happen.
"Part of the job," he says as he pops my shoulder back in - I've been needing that done since college.
I can only nod and he's asking about the knees. "Left knee is bad," I say, "right knee is good."
"Can I use them to pop the hips?" I nod but I think before my chin drops in the motion he is already popping the hips through the knees.
He's quick, I have to hand it to him. But I'm getting quicker and when he takes hold of my right hand I stop him before I hear any unwanted crunching. He lifts his eyes and I explain, "Reconstructive surgery to the wrist."
"Glad you caught that," he says with a grin. I am too. I'm feeling too good to have this meeting end badly.
As I dig into my pocket to thank him with the monetary fee he adds, "Most might tell you it's time to quit. I'm not going to tell you that. I'm going to tell you to keep doing what you're doing until you can't do it anymore." I nod and thank him for the advice. I don't tell him that's my intention, that I don't feel I have any other choice in the matter. I've come this far, might as well see it through to the end.
It's when I walk away that I wonder if he wasn't using reverse psychology on me.
(note: Dale Knobb is very good at what he does - he works on people as well as horses - and everyone I've talked to is extremely pleased with his work, including myself. If you're ever in his neighborhood or at a race where he's sponsoring the event I give my recommendation to see him. Might want to give him the heads up on the injury list though ;) )
