Death by a Thousand Pricks

Yesterday I tried acupuncture for the first time. Many of you that hang around me a lot probably know (at least) two things about me: first, I love to run. Second, I'm always injured. I've had a lot of injuries in the past, but the one that has been nagging me for a few years now is my back. On Monday I had yet another MRI done, and found out bad news - I have bone spurs, compression fractures, disc degeneration, spinal compression and arthritis in my lower back (the "real" terms for all this are: anterior osteophytes, chronic endplate compression fractures, facet and ligamentum flavum hypertonic changes, neural foraminal stenosis and central spinal canal stenosis and mild straightening of the lumbar spine. awesome). All this sounds bad, right? But the truth is none of it is bad enough to warrent a treatment protocol other than what I've already tried over the past two years (physical therapy, water therapy, massage therapy, cortosone injections, orthotics, traction, chiropratic manipulation). Oh and in case you're wondering, yes, I've tried REST. In fact, I've missed the better part of two and a half running seasons because of this (and other) injuries. The main problem is that all of those things going on in my back are compressing the nerves that run down my left leg. This causes pain in my butt (literally and figuratively), hamstring, calf, and numbness and tingling in my foot. It's really hard to run with all that going on.


So, back to my point. Yesterday, I tried the one thing left to try. Acupunture. I'm not going to go into exactly how acupuncture works (the truth is no one really knows how it works), you can read all about it on Wikipedia if you are so inclined. What I can tell you is that yesterday I had 30 pin-thin needles poking out of me - some in a few very sensitive areas (think between your toes!). I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but I can tell you that after I got over the initial pain (it wasn't nearly as relaxing as it looks in those photographs), I chilled out (because really what else can you do when you're lying face down and you look like a porcupine?) and let those little things work their magic. Magic, you ask? Well, it's not exactly like the pain just melted away, but I do feel a little better today. I'll have to make it through a few more needles and a run or two (or fifty) before I really know if it's all in my head or not. I'll keep ya posted!