Some of you may have heard: I broke my back this weekend. I haven’t been to the doctor, I know it’s broken simply because it doesn’t work anymore. Normally I’m not such a nancy about injuries, but I feel like I’m under attack by electric needles. I took Vicodin this morning and the pain sent the pain reliever running for the hills. All I got was this lousy liver damage.
So here’s my question: does anybody have any recommendations for doctors? I don’t necessarily needs scrips, (and certainly don’t out any of your reliable pharmacists on the internet [just email me]) but I would like to know if there are any particularly good (or bad) chiropractors in the area. I have insurance, and I am not a drug addict.
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Tagged as: chiropractors, doctors, ouch, spine
You actually broke your back? I thought that was a joke.
Dude that sucks, you need to take this über serious. You need to go to your primary care person ASAP. This kind of thing can linger for years and cause much unneeded pain if not properly care for.
Seriously get on the horn right now and get it looked at.
DR JEN ACCURSO! She’s the best. She’s at Abundant Life Chiropractic that is just above Zocalo.
(434) 979-5433
To paraphrase Maude Lebowski, she’s good, and quite thorough.
I have a really good pharmacist. His name is Deonte. He lives over on 6 1/2 Street, but he might be busy. He called this morning asking if he could hide from the cops at my place.
Jesus Parlie - seriously - I have a bit of experience in health care and ortho in particular. Get to the UVa Ortho Clinic and see a physician - They have back specialists and Dr. Thomas Brown is also an amazing orthopedic surgeon.
You really don’t want to ignore this. 243-5432. 251-3627.
I’ll second that, and be a total mom: two good friends of mine became addicted to pain killers when faced with chronic back pain. While one of them remained mostly functional, just bitchy, the other moved onto heroin. So, you know, watch out for that.
i’m in asheville right now, so it’s herbal hippie remedies or nothing at all until i come back. thanks for the advice though. i am a total idiot when it comes to taking care of injuries.
Don’t mean to be alarmist, but yell if you need anything. You bloggers making me care about you.
I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess that they have doctors in Asheville.
yes, echo, that is a stretch. They have drum circles and snowboarders, but no doctors in Asheville.
didn’t know he was in Asheville.
Do they still play hacky sack?
Go to one of those quick care places. NOT the emergency room. If you aren’t admitted, it costs nutsy money, even with insurance. So check out one of those places first. Insurance covers it (or it sure did last time I was caught out of state in need of medical care). If you are bad enough to be admitted, they’ll refer you. But see a doctor. NOW. You could be causing yourself additional injury. We want you back, all in one piece, Parlie!
/didn’t even know he’d left the basement
Tell me there’s a funny story behind this broken back thing. Tell me there is.
I hope it involved marijuana.
For right know you can go to the drugstore and buy the little heating pads that you can attach to you skin. That might help in the short run. They are really small and work on a chemical reaction when exposed to the air. This a only a temporary pain management thing- you still gotta see somebody.
I just IM’ed a buddy and he says Lolo is right on the money. Dr. Brown (if needed) is very good.
If this is an injury you’re considering a chiropractor for, wait. Try to find an Osteopath first. Osteopaths are MDs who will do much more than crack you back (and keep you coming back every week for the rest of your life).
@17 Please (don’t) let this deteriorate into a flame war of MDs & Osteopaths vs. chiropractors!
/wishing I knew the html code for strikethrough
wishing I knew the html code for strikethrough
with the word strike in the middle and end it with with /strike
Well it didn’t show the less than/greater than things, but you get the picture.
test
test@18: Put a less than symbol, the word strike, greater than symbol, the word you want, then a less than symbol, backslash, the word strike, than a greater than symbol
Actually, that would be a forward slash. / = slash; \ = backslash. I know how much we all like our grammar.
HOW did you break your back? If you were in a car wreck or fell off a horse or something you might want to see a doctor kinda quick unless you like the idea of painful surgery or partial paralysis. Even if it’s just a bad backache you should get a proper diagnosis and start appropriate treatment sooner rather than later. It’s often the difference between rapid recovery and months or years of pain. It’s hard to tell if you are serious, joking or stupid, but I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Here’s why you SHOULD take it seriously and SHOULD NOT self medicate, especially on something like Vicodin.
- If perchance your back really is broken you are risking serious stuff: spinal chord injury, ruptured disk and the like. The wrong movement–more likely if you’ve masked the pain with drugs–and you could make it far worse.
- If it’s just a bad strain it’s likely to get worse if you don’t take steps to prevent further injury and start the healing process. Many of the muscles that support the spine and flex your back are very, very short. When they spasm, they tend to choke off the very blood supply that you need to heal the actual injury. If you get punched hard in the bicep it hurts, but flex your arm a few times and it quickly starts to feel better, partially because movement promotes the flow of blood. But trauma to the short muscles of the back often hurts so much that movement makes you scream. You hold yourself rigidly, the blood flow (less in short muscles anyway) stagnates, the muscle tightens up more–wham, vicious cycle.
GO SEE A DOC, DUMMY!
we’re scaring parlie to death, I fear. But that’s probably not a bad thing. Not the death part, just the scared part.
Yes, Parlie is a dummy, and no, he did not actually BREAK his back. He IS a drug adict, though. Vicotin was a good choice.
I know the story, but I want people to make up thier own stories. How did YOU think Parlie broke his back? I think he was reaching for the bottle of Vicotin (which he already has before going to the doctor?) on the top shelf of his medicine cabinet and landed on the side of the tub.
I think you broke it, Gobbler. And a long history of animosity here on the villain will provide motive it in court. You’re going down.
How did YOU think Parlie broke his back?
Autofellatio. Least thats how I broke mine.
/pretty sure he will be crippled for life, at least emotionally.
@23: I’ve had it wrong all this time. Thanks dude. Pop quiz: what’s the name for the @ symbol?
I didn’t think he actually broke his back, but it sounded as though he still needed someone to check it out.
My best guess, however, would be trying to to get that third keg up on his head.
I think it’s called an asperand.
@29 @= Klammeraffe meaning spider monkey in german
@31: Wrong! An ampersand looks like this: &
Try again.
@& - Asperand, meet ampersand!
/Oprah, Uma; Uma, Oprah
@33: Read what I wrote. I said A-S-P-E-R-A-N-D.
@33: Oh, der. I thought your were misspelling. Echo 1, Shen 0. I only knew the french word for @ which is arrobas.
Back to speculations on how Parlie hurt his back. I think it had something to do with potsmoking and bad grammar.
I’m going with slipped in a puddle of spilled bong water.
@32 mein kleines lieblings stinktier- isn’t it “hanging monkey”? Unless the zoo signs in Berlin are wrong there’s another word for spider monkey.
@33- I don’t think it has a name in English. Usually called an “at sign”.
@35 echo echo- you probably cheat @ Scrabble. Asperand is not a word. But you should take two of them for a headache.
I swear it wasn’t me. I’d say if it was. Trust me, I’d be way too proud.
For all those that play scabble online… check out this little beast:
http://www.scrabblewordfinder.com/
@40: I guess it just depends where you look. I don’t know if it officially has a name, but if you Google “asperand,” you will get a lot of references to the “at sign.”
Oops, should say @39.
@38 in english the @ is known as the “commercial at
“Spider monkey” as the the tail of one- the base of which you should be quite familiar with
Oh my god. One of our beloved interenet buddies is on his death bed, and all you guys can do is argue about asperands. What’s wrong with you?
Poor Parlie. He fell on his assperand and hurt his backslash.
Mankey tail attacha 2 da mankey butt?
I am currently seeing Meghan Custer for my back problems:
Meghan Custer, D.C.
4422 Ivy Commons
Charlottesville, VA 22903
Phone: (434) 293-2779
Main website is here: http://ivychiropractic.com/
I havent been going very long but so far I really like her and feel she is a very good chiropractor
Good luck and feel better soon!
@46: Well played
@46: you are the winner!
Since parlie’s back is broken, I’ll direct all of you to cvilleMUSE to read NewmaN’s new post.
parlie- seriously:
see a doctor in Asheville.
I’d recommend caling Jen Accurso(see @3 for #-good job, Tuffy). I have a friend who went to the same school as she, and they all know where each other are for the most part…she may very well know someone who can take their time away from the hacky-sack to help you out.
I highly recommend Dr. Peter Bower, an MD who specializes in osteopathic manipulation. I’ve found it to be much more effective and less physically stressful than the high-impact rack-n-crack that chiropractors engage it. I also feel better working with an MD. He deals with both chronic pain issues (as in my case) as well as short-term problems; he’s not someone who prescribes a lot of medication. He does not have a huge ego, and works well with other doctors, which sometimes seems like a very rare trait to find in a doctor. I’ve seen him for years, and have nothing but good things to say about him. You can reach him at 964-0159 in the medical offices on Peter Jefferson Pkwy.
Take this seriously! Although it may turn out that this is a soft-tissue injury, go see someone (either your GP or at the hospital) and make sure you haven’t slipped a disk or fractured something! Then pursue someone like Dr. Bower. As with many practitioners, it t can take a while to get in with him for the first time, depending on his schedule, so make your calls now. Good luck!
Strongly suggest you see an orthopedic surgeon before the Chiropractor…if something is seriously wrong with your back you most likely need x-rays and MRI which I don’t think Chiropractor’s take care of.
asperand45 THIS
people i barely know from a website about drinking and yelling: 1
real life friends of many years with whom i used to entrust my livelihood: 0
when i wake up from my narco-cocktail i’m buying a house in the internet and moving in with you guys!
@56 where is the yelling?
What’s your livelihood?
OH SORRY, IS THIS THING ON? HELLO?
i’m on drugs.
Fractured my 9th thoracic about 20 years ago. Spent a great deal of time meditating on the importance of the “spine” in all its iterations. Initially diagnosed as ’soft tissue damage’ until three weeks later when I insisted someone take an x-ray. Find out what it is really and fix the thing you’ve got, please.
I can’t quit you, Parlie.
1st Brokeback Mountain joke
Eat a Vikey + laxative. That jank will bind you up something fierce.
please bring your pool with you when you move in with us parlie. I really want a pool.
I’ll second pirate’s recommendation for Dr. Bower. I call him Dr. FixIt.
In the meantime, see your regular GP and get some x-rays.
Dr. Keith Lynch of the Lynch clinic…
Does WONDERS!! tell him Elsa sent you..
parlie, did you make up the injured back story to get out of doing the author bio project? if so, well played.
Just to touch on the osetopath thing again, they are MDs, but also do manipulation. They don’t rely on one or the other.
FWIW, a relative who is a doctor once told me that orthopedic surgeons are the carpenters of medicine. They’re great at what they do, but they are very quick to saw you open. Might be smart to see someone with a more “rounded” approach first.
Feel better, parlie! Let us know how you’re doing.
did you make up the injured backstory
Like James Frey?
/million little pieces… of vicoden
Parlie… Chadwick Hawk owns the Wellness Center at ACAC on Monticello Ave… he is expensive but excellent. I have used him for me and kids since 2000…. ( E! Moment…he also goes on tour with DMB to adjust them before/after concerts). My husband was going to have surgery a few years back and 1 visit to Chad cured him.
Sorry to hear you are in pain.
“Chadwick Hawk”? Ferreals? Does he have an awesome mandible? Because that would be awesome.
He is a bit ‘beaky’ now you mention it… I would say a definite air of pelican around the jowl region.
Jowlus pelicanus?It’s more likely than you think.
/ask your doctor about…
No doubt at all, go see Dan Cox at Cox Chiropractic. He was fabulous and my insurance covered all but a bitty co pay. He’s on Market just beyond the Mall going toward Woolen Mills. I did the regular MD route and the osteopath route and Cox had the back and neck fixed and I was pain free in no time. Can’t recommend him highly enough. Both the docs in his office are excellent.