The Art of ART

As those of you who follow my blog know I am a physician who practices as an academic doctor to leukemia and lymphoma patients. I practice evidence based medicine. So I try not to endorse, prescribe or recommend anything that does not have good, sound evidence backing it up.

I also have many of the prejudices that MDs usually carry around. I try to squash them down and keep an open mind, but this one has always "stuck" in the past: benefits of chiropractic medicine. I am not sure where this deep rooted prejudice started. I was really good friends with a student in chiropractic school when I was in pre-med. We all got along!  However, somewhere along the way this deep rooted feeling that somehow manipulation was not as good as pain killers, muscle relaxants, and good old surgery burrowed through my mind. (How silly it seems now when I see it staring back at me on the screen.) A few experiences with stories from patients who had had bad experiences with chiropractors likely did not add to my trust. In the end, I felt wary and never endorsed this kind of therapy to my patients, friends or family.

Cut to the present, as an endurance athlete I am pushing my already broken body to points I never could reach when I was intact and younger. I see improvements every workout. Every race is an adventure to yet a new personal best. Until wham! I hit the wall at St. Anthony's this year and my body screamed out to rest, to recover, but I did not heed. I pushed again...wanting to go farther, longer, there are bigger races...more to come. The addiction had set hold, I am a triathlete and perhaps sprints are just the gateway drug, but an Olympic under my belt? I was ready for shoot for the stars...a Half Ironman next year!

My body has another thing in mind. Through all of the training, stress at work and home, it has finally demanded its rest. First my right groin, then my right hamstring and glut, now my SI joints; not forgetting my poor battered left knee and ankle who will never be quite 100%. 

After reading an inspiring triathlete's blog about ART (active release technique) for her injured piriformis muscle and speaking first hand to several patients who had undergone this therapy, I began to wonder. Was there hope for my battered legs? Thankfully, under the encouragement of my partner, John,  and TNT coach, Teresa, I took the leap. I made the appointment with Dr. Travis Mohr at the North Tampa Spine and Joint Center (www.northtampachiropractor.com).

They quickly fit me in and my appointment was that very same week. John came with me as my moral support. I stepped into his office in New Tampa and almost bolted several times. I kept thinking, I am going crazy...medical school always taught drugs and rest. Every orthopedic I have gone too has said, "stop running" or wanted to put me on high dose pain medications and muscle relaxers. What could a chiropractor do that traditional medicine could not? No matter the pain, I would have run out of there and back home unless John counseled me to stay.

So, Dr. Mohr calls us back. A quick review of my intake evaluation and he realizes, I am tough nut to crack. My nerves are causing me to babble and my multiple pains are running together. Somehow he makes sense of my injuries. He explains that much of what I am feeling is a result of gait adjustments my body is making to compensate for my bum knee...okay, I know that, starting to feel full of myself again...but he goes on. He begins to talk about how we can develop scar tissue along our muscles and joints from this poor form. How those "adhesions" need to be released in order to let the muscle heal properly along the lines contraction/relaxation. He begins to describe ART and Graston Technique, they do not sound pleasant but I figure, I have endured pain before...it makes sense. He is patient, describes the science behind it, the improvement others have seen. He caters to my racing mind and likely silly questions.

That same day he worked on my troubled right thigh. I walked into his office and out with immediate pain relief. I was even able to run that same evening with about a 40% improvement in my pain. Since then and a terrible encounter with the Dreadmill at LAF where I pushed to hard (I know..AGAIN)... I have had 3 weeks of twice weekly treatments and noticed dramatic improvements. My groin pain is 100% better, my hamstrings are stronger, stretched, and about 90% better. He diagnosed my SI joint inflammation (which I have had on/off for several decades!) and it too is improving (about 40%). He has taught me stretching, strength exercises, and continues to do ART on the troubling areas. 

As I look back on my fears and prejudices, I realize they were just that. Dr. Travis Mohr never uttered those two words to me, "Stop Running". He never questioned my somewhat insane need to push my body past its normal limits. Instead he taught me ways to cushion the blows, to help my body cope with the journey we were going to. I doubt a traditional MD would do that. As an athlete, a patient, and physician, I will carry this lesson with me to my future friends, co-athletes, and patients.

 Keep an open mind, healing comes in many ways!