How I Found Relief With Chiropractic Care

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Chiropractic care: I’ve heard of it. I knew a little bit about it. But it never really occurred to me that I might benefit from it (or that I would ever need it.)

I’m fairly young. (Or so I like to think!) I am healthy, have no injuries, and have what I would consider an average or even low number of aches, pains and ailments.

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I am a certified personal trainer. I am very accustomed to exercise in all forms, and it’s a regular part of my life. For the past two years, I have been dealing with this unexplained nagging pain in my left knee, which has been exacerbated by certain physical activities. I was sure it wasn’t anything specific that I had done. Being a trainer, I know how to protect my joints when I am exercising. Plus, the pain came on gradually over time. I had been to the doctor to discuss it a few times, and even had a full athletic x-ray and an appointment with an orthopedic specialist. I was left with little relief other than the confirmation that I appeared to have an incredibly healthy, normal knee.

I have an amazing friend who is also a chiropractor – Dr. Jennifer Sapp. I had no idea whether a chiropractor could fix knees, but it seemed far-fetched considering they deal with the spine. Still, my preference was to steer clear of anything invasive if it wasn’t absolutely necessary, so I figured it was worth a shot!

After scheduling my appointment with Dr. Sapp, she sent me a comprehensive physical and mental health questionnaire to complete and return to her before our first session.

During our initial meeting, we went over some of my responses from the questionnaire, allowing for Dr. Sapp to learn more about how she could specifically assist in my well-being. Then we went through a series of manual, completely non-invasive assessments that allowed for her to learn more about the state of my spine and pelvis. There was no adjustment during this appointment. Instead we discussed the course of treatment she recommended and then agreed on a schedule for my sessions.

Not only did we have a plan in place for attempting to alleviate the knee pain, but she also wanted to tackle my very regular headache pattern. I was shocked to learn, through her assessments, that the angle of my cervical spine was so out of whack that my head is putting about 30 lbs more weight and strain on my neck than it should be. So she was committed to reducing the number of headaches I was having as well.

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I’m not going to lie – the first adjustment left me skeptical. If you’ve never experienced holistic care, it takes some getting used to! Dr. Sapp was incredibly gentle and confident that we could make positive changes. I was hopeful and optimistic, but just not sure this was really going to do anything for me.

After a couple more chiropractic sessions with Dr. Sapp we had a breakthrough. She was able to pinpoint my chronic knee pain – it all had to do with the way I carried my kids!

She asked me if I always carried my kids on the left hip. YES. And I have been holding one kid or another on my left hip for the past 6 and ½ years when my first child was born. She explained that my spine and pelvis were totally out of alignment because over time, I had trained my body to jut my left hip out in order to balance a kiddo on it. Mind. BLOWN. It made so much sense!

Now here’s the even crazier part: that SAME day, after her adjustment, my knee pain completely disappeared. I’m not kidding. Two months later, and I still haven’t felt even the slightest twinge of pain. She did give me a PT exercise to do on my own at home once a day, which I did pretty religiously in the beginning. But I’ve since stopped doing it and my adjustments seem to have remained intact.

The headaches are a little more tricky. We are currently working to re-train my cervical spine to the proper angle through adjustments with Dr. Sapp and with exercises that I do on my own at home. She made it clear from the beginning that this process will take more time, but after having such incredible results with my knee, I fully trust her treatment plan and process. I am willing to stick it out and am excited to eventually be closer to a headache-free life!

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Experiencing chiropractic care with Dr. Sapp has truly been a transformative experience for me. She has been gentle, compassionate, and intuitive throughout my time with her, and I have been incredibly impressed with her level of knowledge about the human body.

Being a mother herself, she especially understands the stresses and strains that our bodies experience through motherhood, which probably helped her in getting to the bottom of my knee pain so quickly.

For more information about Dr. Sapp and her chiropractic practice, visit her website or check out her Facebook page.


About Our Guest Blogger

Andrea | Albuquerque Moms BlogAndrea Scarberry, wife to Tim and mama to Tatum (September 2012) and Silas (June 2015), has lived in Albuquerque the majority of her life. She graduated from UNM with a degree in print journalism. Currently, Andrea works part-time as a marketing assistant, but spends the greater part of her days adventuring with her kiddos. She has found that connecting with and befriending other moms has been a very fulfilling and enjoyable aspect to having children. Andrea has a passion for nurturing her little family and finding gratitude in each day. She also enjoys fitness, reading, writing, binge-watching Netflix after the kids are in bed… Oh, and COFFEE. ALL THE COFFEE.

 

 

 

 

This post is sponsored by Dr. Jennifer Sapp. We at Albuquerque Moms Blog choose to work with partners we believe will benefit our readers.