What Happens When Dr. Ala Has a Back Injury

By: Dr. Ala Lysyk Smith

Exercise is such a brilliant thing for the human body, but there is a point of overload. Here's an experience of how exercise adversely affected my health over the Fourth of July weekend.

I like exercise that is high intensity, short duration, and gives me maximum results. I'm not afraid to work hard when exercising, but I also want to see immediate outcomes.  So, I decided to do Tabata drills. Tabata drills are high intensity interval training that include a 20 second work interval, followed by a short 10 second recovery period. You do one exercise for eight rounds (4 minutes) in one set, and you do no more than four sets, 16 minutes maximum, doing different types of exercises. If you do an exercise that uses multiple body parts with large muscle groups your success increases. So I decided to do four rounds, equivalent to 16 minutes total, of box  jumps.  So, I used a box that is anywhere between one and a half to two feet high, and began my jumps. 

Although it was intense, I completed the 16 minute high intensity interval training and proceeded with the rest of my day.  At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, I started to notice that my gait (walk) was becoming compromised and pain in my lower back was increasing  The pain progressed throughout the weekend and by Saturday I was debilitated, not walking, changing position, or moving.  I tried everything that I would recommend to one of my patients in this situation, ice, heat, over-the-counter pain medication, tens unit electric stim, and although all of those modalities provided me a glimmer of hope for relief, they did not resolve the problem, nor was their effect long-lasting. 

Unfortunately my husband, who is a chiropractor, was up North with my daughter for the weekend and was not at home to provide me with chiropractic care.  So, I decided to bear through it.  While enduring this pain I thought long and hard about each and every patient I have ever treated for lower back pain and my level of empathy escalated.  After two and a half days of significant pain and dysfunction, my husband returned and I asked for him to assist me in reducing this lower back pain. 

We went to our office and within a 10 minutes he was able to reduce my pain level, improve my function, and improve my range of motion and gait by giving me a very specific adjustment to my lower back and pelvis. Not only was I able to get up off the table and stand erect once again, the function in my lower back and how my brain perceived it was an unbelievable euphoric sense of relief. 

My only question is why would anyone suffering with lower back pain avoid seeking chiropractic care as it truly is a diamond in the rough with respect to its effect on human motion, human stability, and human function. I am so thankful for chiropractic care and I'm so proud of each and every chiropractor who has been able to help those suffering with lower back pain find a glimmer of hope.  And...I have decided not to do box jumps ever again!