Ok folks, I'm back. Sorry about the delay....
I wasn't really impressed with my 2 visits to the ortho. On my first visit, I had my neck evaluated. He wasn't sure what the cause of the degeneration was--possibly the football injury started it. He believes that the ligaments are all stretched out, especially those to the scapular area on my right side. He used some type of term that had to do with "tension." Basically, he referred me to a back surgeon because he claims that though I do not need surgery now, I eventually will, and I should get acqauinted with a surgeon now. He didn't believe that my posture had anything to do with my problems. He believes that poor posture is a result of people getting in a position that feels good and comfortable.
I had a really tender spot just above my scapula--I jumped when he touched it. He gave me a steroid shot to relieve trigger area. It loosened up the muscles, but did nothing for my neck discomfort.
I attempted to talk to him about some of the back exercises I had been doing that are from the Neanderthal series of articles on T-Nation by Mike Robertson. He promptly dismissed anything I said about it, stating that I should be careful of getting things from the internet, because people just wanted to sell books and DVD's to make money.....
Today, I went to get my lower back checked--he wouldn't evaluate both areas on the same visit. He thinks that the abnormal bone growths in that area are do to weakened ligaments. So, he said instead of going the time-consuming route of PT, "let's try the easiest treatments first." He gave me a series of prolotherapy shots.
I really dislike the idea of getting shots. Not because I don't like shots, but because I do not like to put things into my body unless it is absolutely necessary.
I just didn't get a good sense that this guy was leading me down a path to a corrective treatment. On top of it all, after I signed a release form for the shots, I read the fine print highlighted at the bottom of the form that says the shots aren't covered by insurance. I thought that was pretty underhanded to not mention it to me personally and just hope that I read that on the form.
Suggestions? I really want to go the route of corrective exercises, but how do I find someone with that thought process? Someone who doesn't just want to prescribe medicines, shots, or surgery......
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