People often ask me what I enjoy about being a Chiropractor. Of course, there is always a great deal of satisfaction from being able to help someone, usually by improving their mobility and reducing their pain. From the first moment a patient begins to describe their history of how their episode began, and describe their symptoms, I’m eager to help them. Occasionally I feel some condition is outside of our scope of practice and must settle for a supportive role of encouraging how other professionals can help more.
Last week I had a monthly maintenance patient come in with what seemed like a simple overuse of the back muscles resulting in lower back pain and sciatica. The interesting symptom was the weak and numb feeling he had in his foot. He found it hard to put his shoe on because of weakness and numbness. At first, I thought it could easily be from a sciatic nerve irritation from a lower back strain. Then, on the second visit, when his back pain was better (but the leg was still numb and weak) I was puzzled. He then said the famous line, ‘this likely has nothing to do with this problem but,’ and proceeded to show me the large contusion on his shin where he was struck by a tree branch. It was originally badly discoloured and painful but not so much anymore. As soon as I realized the shin was tight, I knew he had a compartment syndrome or shin splints. I suddenly knew why he was having his leg problem. The nerves in the anterior compartment were being irritated by the swelling and caused both numbness and weakness. Fortunately, I knew how to reduce the pressure in the compartment, and he is happily now on his way to complete recovery.