Sunday, November 14, 2010

Period of Adjustment

My hamstring/glute has been improving - in that it hasn't stopped me from running, but it certainly hasn't completely gone away either. A few weeks ago I talked with Runner Retreat's owner Mark Stickley about my issue. He said that he had something similar several years ago and the only thing that worked was getting worked on by a chiropractor. I've never gone to a chiropractor - and it kind of made me nervous, but I trust Mark - he was a sub-29 minute 10k and 62 minute half-marathon guy. So, I took the card of the chiropractor he uses and made an appointment.
Although I wasn't sure what to think - Dr. Voll seemed to know what he was talking about. He is a runner and has a lot of experience working with runners. So - he knows that telling a runner to completely go cold turkey is pretty much not going to happen unless the runner has a broken leg or something. After doing a thorough examination he gave me a plan - which included an adjustment plan, some foot drills, and although he didn't ask me to stop running he did ask me to back off the total volume and intense workouts for a few weeks.
The day after my first adjustment on Friday I felt incredible. My hamstring/glute felt better than it had in over two months - and maybe I was imagining things, but I felt like I had more energy and even a more positive mood. Of course I ended up pushing my run a little too hard and started feeling it again after ~4 miles. This week I'll go back for a few more adjustments - they actually aren't too expensive and if they continue to show this much improvement they will be worth it.
Anybody else have experiences either positive or negative with Chiropractors?