Case Study #6: Doc, my back has been hurting for 30 years.

Case Study #6: Alex has been researching, under secret clearance with the U.S. Government for three decades, Laser Engineering which means he has been huddled over a computer and/or laser equipment nearly night and day.

Picture of a laser engineer, not Alex.

He's seen chiropractors in the past and PT but never stuck with it because he "didn't have time." Now Alex hobbles into my clinic with unrelenting low back pain that is worse than ever. Oddly, no one over the years thought to X-Ray him either. We did. Here is what we found:

In this film, we are looking at Alex's back from behind. The left is clearly marked and as you can further see, he has a frank scoliosis of the low back.

Adjustments have already made him feel better. You're asking; "Can chiropractic care straighten out his back??" The answer is probably not. However, a wholistic approach to this man's activities may help reduc the scoliosis issue along with chiropractic adjustments. Since he likes to swim, we leave that alone. He also likes to jog. I begged him to stop running on concrete and use a softer surface since he refuses to quit running too. So, we split the difference and he is using his treadmill instead of running on the street. I asked him to sit in his car when getting in, rather than step into the car like most people do. The twisting motion of stepping into your car mimick's a gold swing. Interestingly, he already has a cross bar installed in his basement so I told him to start doing pullups and chinups religeously to help build up the Latissimus muscles and utilize gravity to traction out his spine.

With these factors all working, I am confident we can reduce this scoliosis in the coming year.

Dr. Haberstroh is a chiropractor in Boston and Somerville.