Spine Force

So I did manage to have two visits with Dr. Meadows and his staff last week - despite the fact it was Thanksgiving weekend. I went in on Tuesday, and when Dr. Meadows overhead me say that I was taking off the following day to take my daughter on errands on her birthday - I was told to come in then too.

On Tuesday last week, the 25th, I got worked on the Spine Force machine for the first time. This is after I had a just over a week of doing exercises on the exercise ball to strengthen the intrinsic muscles in my back.

This is a picture of a spine force machine, but it's not at the Spinal Relief Center. After reading up on them on the Internet, I see that they are used for muscle rehab as well as disk rehab. There seem to be a fair amount of them in California, but Rochelle (in Dr. Meadows' office) told me that the ones in that office there in Redmond were the only ones in the state of Washington. That's pretty wild. Hard to have the only one of ANYTHING these days.

Okay, about the Spine Force machine...hmmm...I've only had one session on it, so I can't say much other than the fct that it didnt' cause me any additional pain. It seems to be a lesson in not only working the intrinsic muscles, but controlling them as well. You are asked to pull or push on the handles you see there on the machine, and to do so in such a way that you achieve a specific pressure reading on the machine. Your success or failure is based on how close you can get to the mark and how often. Rochelle said that I did pretty well for my first time with a score of about 70%.

At the writing of this blog entry, I find that I've needed several pain pills this week. My back has acted up and decided to hurt quite a bit again. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I have to say that the overall pain level has increased to a 4, with spikes to 6 and 7 - and I'm back to being in pain about 40% of the time. **sigh** Don't know what to think about that. I sure want this treatment to work - and I am honestly trying to do everything in my power to help it. I am doing as I'm told. I haven'y gotten in my hot tub, I have walked and not on the treadmill, I've done the strengthening exercises - and yet here I am. Still in pain. It's much better than it was, but I'm still going to treatments, and I'm wearing my disc disctractor belt when I'm on my feet.

I have high hopes, but I'm skeptical. Okay...that's it! I'm going for another treatment on Tuesday. We'll see how I am by then.