Heidi Pyper

I have had a “bad back” for about 8 years.  I hurt my back lifting a heavy box, and since then my low back has just seemed to get worse and worse, regardless of what exercise or stretching or other things I’ve tried.  Two years ago it had gotten to the point that about every two months I would pull something and end up out of commission for a few days, and I had pain and weakness every day, especially at the end of each day. I went to many chiropractors over the years and was able to get some temporary relief, but nothing really seemed to last.  

        Then, last January I went to see an orthopedic doctor who diagnosed me with degenerative disk disease and started me in physical therapy.  Each therapy session left me full of pain and weakness, and then after a few weeks I started to experience pain and burning in my left foot.  This led to an MRI and other tests, and while these showed that my disks were bulging some, there was no visible nerve impingement anywhere; so, they said I must just have inflammation around the nerve and that it would probably go away with time. I was told to avoid sitting and wait.  I couldn’t drive, I could only walk short distances without great pain, and I couldn’t even stand up for more than about 30 minutes at a time and not pay for it.  For weeks I mostly stayed down and waited, but nothing got better, and after 12 weeks I went back in for a surgical consultation. Once again, the doctor (a different one this time), couldn’t recommend surgery because no nerve impingement was visible.  There was basically nothing they could do for me.  I also saw a neurologist who did many tests and could find no cause of the foot pain.  At this point I tried some different strong medications and some nerve-blocking shots, but nothing really seemed to do anything.  I’d read a lot about deep tissue massage and therapies that broke down scar tissue in the muscles that sounded promising,  but the only therapists I knew of that did this kind of treatment were back East.  So I was basically an invalid for 8+ months. 

         Finally, a little over a month ago my sister-in-law recommended I give Dr. Smith a try, and because she said he used x-rays and wasn’t your typical chiropractor, I decided it couldn’t hurt.  He took x-rays and found that I had “kinks” in my spine in four different places, including the spot of the spine where the nerve roots to my left foot live.  Not one doctor up to this point had done a full spine x-ray.  Imagine my amazement to learn that Dr. Smith also does soft tissue rehabilitation as well as the chiropractic adjustments!  I was also impressed that Dr. Smith uses the x-rays to determine specifically where the structural adjustments need to be made. This made a lot more sense to me than the same old adjustment given to everyone, every visit that is common in most chiropractic offices. Dr. Smith also took into account other health issues I was suffering from, such as eye-strain, headaches, poor circulation, etc. and recommended some diet changes and a multivitamin.  After five weeks I’ve seen definite improvements. The burning pain in my foot has gone down by about 40%, and the pain level in my back has gone way down.  I can now drive and shop and walk and stand for much longer, and my pain level is much less.  I haven’t had one real headache since we began treatments, and before that I’d get them about once a week. I’ve been able to do much more reading than before as well, because my eyes last longer. Progress x-rays show that three of the four kinks are already straightening out, and we have great hopes for the last kink to get in gear one of these days.  I’ve been so pleased and relieved to finally have found someone who could help me—I would and do recommend Dr. Smith to anyone suffering from chronic pain and many other things that “traditional” doctors can’t do anything about.    I am not back to full health yet, but I’m certainly much better and I’m sure my improvement will continue.