A couple months ago i was in the Chiropractors office complaining about “something funny” going on in my thoracic spine. I know i know its not the most technical description but he hears this all the time and as i was showing him what hurt and how i did it, he simply smiled and nodded his head.
As he got his hands on me and started to probe he asked me a seemingly strange question: “Have you had any intestinal issues lately?” My immediate answer was, “no, not that i can think of.” He poked and prodded a bit more and put me through the death stretch where it feels like he is going to rip your head off and sent me on my way with his usual cheer.
While i was getting in my car i started to think more about the last couple days of training and eating and if i had any intestinal issues… I had, and pretty severe. I won’t go into details but it was one of those days were you get out of bed, then get back in bed, and repeat a couple times till the world comes back into focus. I simply can’t handle the booze like i did in college. That day i vomited twice and was not normal till after 6pm that evening.
That was Sunday and my meeting with Dr. Dan was on Wednesday after i had hurt my back training on monday.
Ok, here is what i am trying to get at. The reasons we take care of our bodies as athletes is driven towards performance. Do i understand the link between intestinal issues and thoracic spine issues? Kinda. Its a spinal reflex from the stressed stomach but more importantly it taught me that i can’t trash one part of my body and expect the rest of it to perform at normal capacity. Simply understand that we are not many pieces functioning together (much like modern MDs treat) rather one big machine working, hopefully, in harmony.
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