To properly tell this story I need to go back to the Fall of 2022. I was finally back in the groove at the gym, lifting 5x a week and doing cardio twice a day – five days a week. Everything seemed to be falling into place. I was burning fat, making gains, and breaking through PR’s at the gym. Not only was everything running smoothly in the gym, but my nutrition was on point, I was hydrated, and my sleep was perfect. Unfortunately, one morning at Crunch Middletown I decided to dumbbell press the 120’s and on one of the final reps, I twisted my neck ever so slightly. I didn’t think anything of it, but over the course of the next few days, the pain became more and more unbearable. By the end of the week I could no longer turn my head fully in either direction.
Being an avid gymgoer and working in the bodybuilding industry for well over a decade I foolishly tried to tough it out. Initially, I thought that just by taking it easy that the pain would subside. I stayed away from the gym for a week. When that didn’t really help it turned into two weeks. From that point I started icing my neck, taking hot showers, and even figured I’d get a massage. That was a really bad idea! The massage felt like torture!
The pain was initially in my neck only, but eventually spread throughout my back. When it became difficult to sit in place for prolonged periods of time, I opted to go to Urgent Care. Just I’d imagined they would, they gave me Flexeril (a muscle relaxant) and suggested I take ibuprofen. Now mind you, I rarely take NSAID’s and when I do I never exceed 400mg in a day. They instructed me to take 800mg tablets four times a day. This went on for about a month, even though I never took more than 1,600 mgs in a 24hr period.
To be totally honest, I don’t think the Flexeril did anything. The first couple days I thought I sensed some kind of relief but in hindsight I’m going to bet it was mostly a placebo effect. In all actuality these drugs merely mask the pain but really don’t address it. And the more research I did online, the more I feared having to look at the surgical option. Chiro was always an option, but the providers I saw on YouTube seemed liked quacks. One guy wrapped a towel around his patient’s head and yanked on it while using country bumpkin terms like “the ring dinger.” Other practitioners were more about getting audible “cracks” by putting tiny microphones all over their patients’ bodies than they seemed to care about their actual health and well-being. I wasn’t impressed. And quite frankly most of these videos freaked me out.
What little I knew about back surgeries, spinal fusions, and the like was that they seldom – if ever – were one-and-done type procedures. Everything I read made the case that surgery was always the last option, so I did a little bit of research and looked around my area for chiropractic providers. Some had hundreds of reviews and others just a handful. Next I looked at websites and read up on the doctors. I settled on Bardstown Road Chiropractic and as soon as I met Dr. Brian Marquez and his team I was immediately happy with my decision. =
From the first few calls to filling out my new patient intake information, I felt as if my care was their top priority. The doctor had excellent bedside manner and wanted as much information about my injury as possible. He also wanted to know about me and how I trained. Dr. Marquez explained everything that was happening. We did X-rays and he explained the course of treatment. I’d come in 3x a week for the first couple of weeks, then twice a week, and so on. Within a month I’d say I had recovered as much as 80%. I went from having trouble sitting in my car or at my desk at work without being in pain to being able to consider going back to the gym.
Within two months I was at 90% and eventually I was back to 100%. It was all because of the treatment I received at Brownsboro Road Chiropractic and the exercises that Dr. Marquez recommended I do at home. I didn’t need to take any muscle relaxers or NSAID’s. I was able to make a complete recovery, but would the treatment continue?
Dr. Marquez explained how important maintenance would be in the future. A lot of my skepticism with chiropractic was that once you started you’d have to go forever. The God’s honest truth is that while you don’t have to go for the rest of your life – why wouldn’t you? I went a few months without going when I switched jobs and while I was able to function pretty well, I was stiff again, and I wasn’t living life to its fullest. What’s the point of that?
Brownsboro Road Chiropractic accepts my insurance and even if you don’t have insurance the cost for care is extremely reasonable. Plus when you stop to think about it if you’re into saving money maybe buy generic sodas or cook at home one night a week. What you’ll save compared to how you’ll feel for a whole week is a no-brainer. Get the treatment and save on something else! Just my two cents, folks.
I look forward to my appointment every Tuesday at 5:30PM. Although I was initially weary of the E-Stim Therapy, I can’t live without it, today! Dr. Marquez has totally sold me on trigger point therapy, but also adjusts my lower back and neck. He’s advised me on posture, exercises I can do at home, and has always encouraged me to workout and try to get in great shape. He not only understands the value of weight-training but he encourages me to go to the gym and keep with it!
If you’re in the Greater Louisville area and you’re experiencing any kind of neck or back pain – or – if you’re looking for better mobility and flexibility, I strongly recommend Dr. Marquez and Brownsboro Road Chiropractic.
