by Will Forrester
My wife Kelly and I recently decided it was time for us to “get moving,” meaning exercise! Since coming
to Dr. Ranicki for care, we have both experienced enormous health improvements, some of which we hoped for, and some we didn’t even anticipate. But since beginning a Couch Potato to 5K regimen, we have discovered another tremendous benefit that my wife has received from chiropractic. But first, a bit of our history. I like to run occasionally. By no means am I an avid runner, but if I’ve had a stressful day or a rough week, I like to go for a run to clear my head. I have dreams of finishing 10Ks and maybe even running a marathon, but I’ve never gotten into a good habit of running.
Kelly on the other hand… let’s just say she is a great swimmer! For some reason, all of her life, running has been something she just couldn’t do. Like, not even running ten or fifteen yards. She would experience terrible pain in her lower back and would immediately start walking. So people who ran with her would always assume she was just really, really out of shape. But the truth was she was in pain.So she rarely makes attempts to run at all. But deep down she has longed to strap on a pair of good running shoes and head out the door for a run the way she sees so many of her friends do.
Since having our last child, we have wanted to do something for exercise as a family, so pushing the jogging strollers together and going for a run became an easy, attractive option. Kelly was determined to give it a go, and we even got her a pair of good shoes to begin the adventure. The last time we had run together was about seven years ago, and we had not attempted to run at all since.
So a few weeks ago was the big day. We got the kids loaded in the strollers. We downloaded the Couch Potato to 5K app so we would know how long to run and how long to walk. The first week’s exercise looked this this: Brisk five-minute warm-up walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes. Kelly had not run for sixty seconds straight. Ever. In her life. And guess what? She did it. She was able to run and walk the entire program. All of week 1. Oh and all of week 2. Without a hitch.
What changed that made her able to run again?
We credit chiropractic care. When Kelly began seeing Dr. Ranicki, she discovered she had some severe problems in her lower spine. It was even causing her some pain when she was sitting, occasionally. Through regular chiropractic care, Kelly has experienced enormous reductions in upper and lower back pain. Our whole family feels healthier as we are all receiving care. But little did we know that Dr. Ranicki had given Kelly the opportunity to become a runner, if she wants to. For the first time in her life. What about you? Do you have problems with certain exercise programs? Have you considered chiropractic care to help you perform better as an athlete or just be able to exercise regularly with less risk of injury? Give us a call to schedule a wellness assessment. We believe and know that chiropractic can and will help.