Learnings from putting my Humpty Dumpty back together again

The Journey to Fix My Back

This past January on a Tuesday night, I fell to the floor, my back in excruciating pain; it tightened to

the point where I couldn’t move. I knew then that the back issue I had been dealing with since 2014 was at its lowest point, experiencing pain no matter my posture throughout the day. I was concerned this was becoming chronic.

I visited many different chiropractors in the US and Spain over the last 5 years and saw massage therapists, doctors, an acupuncturist, and multiple trainers. None of these providers were able to diagnose or solve my issue in the long term. They gave me expensive and very temporary pain relief.

I looked for a new provider and got really, REALLY lucky.

Enter Dr. Watins and West Side Comprehensive Chiropractic Care

(and no, I am not getting paid for mentioning them!)

I walk into their office at 7:30 am, immediately seeing a sign that shares their slogan: “Care with Purpose”. I saw that they have information sessions every week about good health practices. In my first visit, they did a full diagnosis (2nd session we went over the X-rays), and I got a clear explanation of all the different issues that compounded on each other. Even with this complexity, they explained to me the stages of my treatment and what to expect.

As of today, August 2023, I am probably 80% healed, having come back stronger, built better habits, and even reduced knee pain through the process. If you couldn’t tell, I am incredibly grateful to this office for helping me recover from an issue I feared I could have for the rest of my life. So I wanted to share what I learned, including some surprising outcomes of what I thought was just a recovery. Below is me forgetting how to sit up straight because I've had such an atrocious posture!

Health Principles That Saved Me

I wrote a blog post on health habits, that were critical for me to get back on the bandwagon of recovery. Here are a few principles that saved me:

1. You are in charge of your health. No one was coming to help fix my issue. I had to find the right provider and collaborate with my doctors to get better.

2. Investing (time, money, and effort) in health pays dividends. My schedule and budget needed to make room for my chiropractic appointments – 2 hours, 3x a week!

3. Better thinking long-term than short-term (unless in an emergency situation). The actions I take now will compound and add up to my fate in my elderly future – so I have to take care of myself now to maintain good posture and health.

4. Emphasize process and habits over goals. While I did want to recover, I knew that the real work was around building better habits, such as good posture, building strength in the more “hidden” muscles that maintain our posture, and even how to sit, stand, and move properly.

What did I learn about the recovery process?

1. Be Picky with your Provider

You might think because an office has a degree or credential, that they provide you with excellent care. FALSE! They are people too, with flaws, personalities, and biases, with deficits in skill and knowledge like everyone. When you are assessing any type of provider, you should have clear criteria in your head to evaluate them.

I would suggest the following criteria:

• Commitment and Relationships – Does the provider show their commitment to making a difference? Does the provider try to get to know you well and pay attention to your progress? Do they customize recommendations for your specific situation and context?

• Competence – How strong is the provider’s knowledge and skill as it relates to your needs? Not that you are the expert here, but if you are not getting a clear and upfront explanation of what the issue is, the underlying mechanics of how your body/mind works, etc., it is possible something is outside their knowledge base. For example, I did not have a single provider that could provide a clear answer to a separate issue I was having with regard to iron deficiency.

• Communication – How well do they communicate the issue, progress you’ve made, advice or homework, and anything hard to hear? Do they communicate proactively? Are they clearly explaining billing, your benefits, insurance, and the like? You should not be surprised by anything at the office if you are paying attention.

2. Be clear about what goes into the recovery process.

Your doctor is not responsible for your recovery – you are. So when you are working with your doctor, make sure to craft an effective recovery process, with the following elements:

• Partnership – Forge a partnership where you are actively constructing this recovery process with your provider, even if they are the expert on your issue area. Be proactive in updating them on how things are going, asking for homework and asking questions about the underlying science of the issues you're experiencing

• Understanding of the ideal physical state – The ideal state is not just free of pain - it's a body and health that is built for longevity. The ideal can be measured by quantitively-based tests or even qualitative explanations of what the body should be like, such as in my case, the curvature of my back and neck. One interesting quantitative measure for me was the fact that my left leg was heavier than my right leg, which caused an imbalance in my body. Also answer: what is it that I have to maintain when I am recovered?

• Diagnostic – This diagnostic should show you clear results against the ideal physical state. The diagnostic should be able to tell you (1) what the problem(s) is, (2) the severity, and (3) the extent to which you can recover.

• Recovery Plan – using the results of the diagnostic, the recovery plan should include: (1) what are the areas of the body to focus on, (2) what are the processes and/or therapies you will need to undergo, (3) frequency and intensity of these therapies, (4) expectation of timing and cost, and (5) an assessment plan to see if you are on track.

See part of my recovery plan below...

3. Best practices in executing your recovery plan.

It’s easy to take longer, relapse, or just learn to deal with your issues rather than take your recovery to completion. What goes into an effective recovery?

• Set your expectations – You should be conservative about how much time it might take for you to recover so that you are not disappointed or annoyed later. Expect that it will be hard work, possibly expensive, and take up a lot of your time that can be otherwise spent on more interesting things in life. Set your expectations so you have the right attitude throughout the process.

• Establish clear principles (rules) – Having clear principles gives you simple ways to straighten the line from A to B (body harmed to body healed). Some of these principles likely involve sacrifice, such as how to accommodate this new spending in your budget. For example, I have a rule not to spend any more money on fitness-related activities while I am recovering.

• Build good habits – Habits go 1 step beyond defining the rules – they ensure you are maximizing your time and effort even unconsciously. I have bad posture, so I have been working on habits to correct this posture, such as keeping my neck and shoulders back, as well as doing the exercises my physical therapist taught me every time I go to the gym. I try to remember EVERY TIME I am sitting or walking to focus on my posture - the picture below is a tape my physical therapist gave me every other appointment to remind me to keep my shoulders back.

• Check-in regularly – Both do your own check-in if possible (for me, it was monitoring my pain, flexibility, and core strength), as well as a check-in with your provider. Asking them how you are doing and how they know is an important part of your understanding of the full recovery process.

• Celebrate progress – A long journey of recovery can be a slog, so find the time to celebrate yourself and the work you’ve done. You are working hard and deserve recognition for the progress you’ve made.

My Humpty Dumpty Back Disaster - A Case in Point

When I visited the office of Dr. Watins, they told me I was suffering from spinal compression and

subluxations (vertebrae out of alignment), a pinched nerve, very little spinal flexibility, a posture with a forward head, and an imbalance in my body left-to-right. NOT. GOOD!!! However, I was thankful that they could explain these specifics, and how these different problems worked together.

Dr. Watins took me through their recovery process (pictured).

He and the other doctors were constantly asking me for feedback and how I was doing and made adjustments in my treatments when necessary. Every few weeks, I had a retest to check my posture, spinal flexibility, etc. and they would tell me where I was in my recovery and would expand my homework for my own recovery. It is about 8 months later, and I am probably a few months away from full recovery or the “maintenance” phase. After almost a decade of issues, I am older and yet healthier than ever.

Some examples of the types of strengthening and mobility exercises I'm doing with my trainer:

Some unexpected learnings in the process 😊

During this recovery, besides learning some stuff about myself, such as my determination, hard work, and discipline, I gained some valuable wisdom:

• Pay Attention:

  • At the gym, I highly recommend starting exercises with very little weight and going very, very slow. This helped me pay very close attention to my body - what parts were working hard, which parts are stronger than others and I could tell if something wasn't being done right.

  • Similar to the above - actively monitor both your form at the gym and your posture at home. Even the smallest form of imperfections can become habits and in the long-term result in things like a forward head, or left-right imbalance, that create health problems over time.

• Focus Areas:

  • There are tons of muscles that are working in the background – the hidden stars of my recovery were these very small abdominal and stabilizer muscles!

  • Your spine is part of your nervous system, so don’t mess around with your back! Slight changes to your spine, whether compressions, subluxations, etc. can have a big impact on your physical, emotional, sexual, and mental health!

• Look to build positive feedback loops (flywheels?) of motivation. For me, when I noticed that I could do more moves and my flexibility increased at yoga class, and when I could lift slightly higher weights, I realized I was making progress, and that motivated me to do more. The more progress you notice, the more momentum you build.

I hope this was helpful to anyone going through a physical recovery process. As much as my coaching usually deals with non-health issues, I am a huge advocate of investing and prioritizing our health as the foundation of a great life. Feel free to reach out to me at chris.coraggio@yourpotencia.com, sign up with my mailing list, or schedule a consultation!

For Learning and With Love,

Chris