Simplify the Web Small and Simple things

Last Saturday, my wife Anne-Marie and I played some basketball with a group of friends. We hadn’t played hard for over a year, and we were pretty unfit. We didn’t do any warm-ups or stretches before we started; that was a mistake! The next day Anne-Marie started feeling dizzy, getting back then neck pains. The next day a pounding, nagging headache started, and was so strong that she could hardly sleep Monday and Tuesday nights. This morning it was only getting worse. Paracetamol wasn’t helping at all, whereas it usually does.

I associated her problems with that afternoon playing basketball, and concluded that the cause of the pain must be in the cervical vertebrae. I bought her some ibuprofen, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, and she reported some pain relief within the hour. This confirmed my hypothesis a bit further. I decided not to waste time seeing a generalist—who would probably just prescribe some ibuprofen!—I contacted a local chiropractor and made an appointment for the same afternoon.

We had never been in consultation with a chiropractor before, although we knew one in Australia, and had a few friends who saw one regularly. We had heard good reports of the relief this type of therapy could bring. The practitioner we saw spoke very well English, was friendly, kind and considerate; we felt very comfortable with him. He confirmed what I thought, that one of her vertebrae was misaligned, which had caused an inflammation. It only took him about 10 minutes to exactly locate the area in question, and another minute later he had expertly put it back in place. This caused a loud cracking sound which greatly surprised Anne-Marie, but no pain at all. Immediately she felt able to move her head better than before, and some of the pressure from the headache has subsided.

Right now, she is sleeping peacefully next to me, finally able to get a good night of sleep. I’m thinking about consulting this doctor for myself once in a while: the French health system with which I am registered covers the expenses for 4 such consultations each year :-)