One Month and Manipulation

That's all that's left folks. One month till race day.

I'm a little nervous to say the least! But, I finally had a good run today. First really good run in a few weeks, so it was a big confidence booster. Also, Fleet Feet called on my lunch break - shoes are in! I'll be picking up those beasts tomorrow :) YAY!

My left leg is still kind of bugging me, but I'm hoping that my new shoes will help that out. Also, I scored an appointment with my back doctor in 2 weeks, and that I KNOW will help. I can feel that my left hip is rotated forward, especially when I lay on my back. My doctor does orthopedic manipulation - similar to chiropractics, but less "violent." you lay on these moist heat pads for, well, long enough to fall asleep usually, haha- whoops. Then she comes in and does these stretches on you where she places her fingers on trigger points along your spine and uses her body weight to loosen up the ligaments and gently push things back into alignment. There is no "neck snapping" like at the chiro. They just gently massage and rotate your head/neck after realigning your spine, and you can feel everything in your neck falls back into place. You can INSTANTLY feel the release, your range of motion increases immediately. There's all sorts of lymphatic fluid that's released from the body after this treatment. So it's important to increase (even more than normal) your fluid intake to flush it all out.

One time I ran a few hours after the treatment - uh no good. lymphatic fluid was not yet flushed from the system and I got cramps in the strangest places - like in my shoulders. Really painful cramps. Best to just hold out till the next morning to do cardio after - in my opinion. Another benefit, besides being more gentle than chiro, to manipulation is it's not focused on forcing the skeleton back into correct form as much as it is focused on muscle recognition for holding your skeleton in it's proper position. people often have to go to the chiro 2-3 times a week when they are out of whack. When I first found this doctor after injuring my back as a teenager, I went every 3 weeks for a few months. Over time, your body learns to hold its posture better and you can go less frequently. I've not been in over a year, and things have just gotten to the point where I need an adjustment. If you have a DO in your area that does orthopedic manipulation, I strongly recommend going - if you have any back/hip/shoulder pain at all. It really is just an excellent release for the muscles!