Dr. Doug's History

My MRIs/EMG/CT | Post Op Contrast MRI | 1 Year Post Op 3T contrast MRI | My Disability Scores

ChiroGeek's (aka: Dr. Douglas M. Gillard DC, BS, QME) Story:

Dr. Gillard I've been plagued with bouts of lower back pain for more-than 30 years. The first notable incident that I recall occurred when I was a junior in high school for no particular reason. My father, who was a physician, took me to an orthopedist who diagnosed me with "sway back" or, in doctor speak, a hyperlordotic lumbar sagittal curve. Back in those days the pain only occurred occasionally, but when it did, it would put me down for a few days.

Although I played American football from age 6 to 18, I believe that a jump off of a 15 foot slide at the age of 9 or 10 damaged the vertebral end-plates of my lowest lumbar vertebra . This axial-load injury set in train the phenomenon of pathological disc degeneration that has now come full circle. I did have another axial load type fall when I was about 13 years old: I was swinging on a long rope with a 2X4 for a seat off our boat house when the rope broke, which sent my plummeting onto my bottom after about a 12 foot drop in about one foot of water. I'm sure all of the years of very heavy weight lifting (regularly worked with weights over 500 pounds) and hammer throwing didn't help things.

Despite my "bad back", I was still able to compete well at a 'NCAA level' in Collegiate Track and Field. I fell in love with the 'Hammer Throw' (which is probably the worse sport on the planet for the discs in your lower back) and excelled. I was named "All-American" six times (4 outdoor, 2 indoor) while attending my undergraduate college, Ferris State University, in Big Rapids Michigan. In 2003, I was nominated for the "Ferris Hall of Fame" and was inducted into the class of 2006. [Gillard--Bio]

My fascination with the human body and my own bad back pushed me into Chiropractic College in 1983, which moved me from the snow belt of Michigan to Life Chiropractic College in Marietta Georgia. This move also helped my Hammer Throwing because I could now train outdoors all year-round. In 1986 I graduated with honors (Cum Laude) with a doctorate in Chiropractic and moved to San Jose California. While studying for the Chiropractic Boards for California in 1987, I took a job as an Athletic Trainer for Athletic Rehabilitation & Physical Therapy Associates--a top notch rehabilitation center--that was used by many of the sports-orientated orthopedic doctors in the bay area. I learned a great deal from those physical therapists (who I respect tremendously) and greatly appreciated that unique opportunity to learn. I passed my California State Boards--first time around--in 1987 and became licensed to practice Chiropractic, which is where I continue to practice.

My hammer throwing was also thriving in sunny California as--under the tutorage of three-time Olympian Ed Burke--I moved from a 18th US ranking into the top 10. In fact, with my back totally "behaving," I was named as an alternate on the 1988 Olympic Team after placing 5th at our Olympic Trial.

Interestingly, my lower back rarely bothered me after I started serious weight training in 1980, although a mandatory lumbar X-ray at Life Chiropractic College in 1983 demonstrated moderate degenerative changes (i.e., a 33% thinned L5 disc).

THE INCIDEN:

In 1989, my dreams of making the US Olympic Team came to an end when I severely injured my lower back in a weight lifting accident. More explicitly, while power cleaning (an olympic weight lifting technique that require one to lift a heavy barbell of weight from the floor to the chest in a rapid and explosive motion) 352 pound, I lost my balance (slipped on some baby powder that was on the lifting platform) and wrenched my lower back. Subsequently, I developed severe lower back pain an lost two month of training, which severely hampered the season, although I was able to finish the 1989 season with a 4th place finish at the 1989 US Track and Field Championships and set a person best of 237 feet.

Despite the successful season, my lower back never fully recovered and I was unable to compete in 1990--my Olympic dream was over.

I severely missed competition and--perhaps foolishly--turned my type AAA personality toward ice hockey, then golf (which I had a "2" tournament handicap), then I formed a blues band (cut two CDs), and finally, after my back had been hurt an uncountable number of times, to the sport of Road Bike Racing.

The sport of road bike racing (al la Lance Armstrong) was a severe challenge (and oh how I love a challenge) that required me to turn my muscular 230 pound body into that of a skinny endurance athlete, which I did by losing about 70 pounds over two years. By 2002, I was down to 7% body fat and weighted only 157 pounds (maintaining that weight was no fun), which I accomplished by training (riding) 20 to 25 hours per week, which equates to riding approximately 350 miles per week. And, within no time, I had risen to the top of the master Cat 4 racing scene here in California (which is a 'hot bed' for Road Bike Racing). My biggest finish was a placed 2nd out of 100 riders from all over the country at the Sea Otter Bike Festival in 2002, which was a huge, televised event. (photo right) Here I'm finishing 5th out of 100 riders in another big, 70 mile, race down south. Note the extreme flexion that us 'roadies' must maintain! This is a terrible position for a disc patient!!!! I guess I was kind of asking for trouble!!

The Final Incident of Injury:

The 2002 season was off to a great start and I seemed to have completely recovered from a severe back injury (probably an over-use injury) that occurred in Hawaii in 1999--this injury took three full month to recover from, which was so scary that I damn near gave up the sport; however, through chiropractic care, exercise, and stretching, I recovered. Little did I know that I had just used up my disc(s) last "life."

In 2002, since I hadn't have back pain in over two years, I believed that I no longer needed to painstaking go through my low back exercise and stretching program. So I stop doing it and only trained on my bike. What a mistake that was, for two months of the stopping the program, exercises, low back began its final downward spiral: The season was almost over and--as usual--I was over-trained. The first injury occurred after a 25 mile individual time-trial, which demands the athlete to race the clock in a completely aerodynamic position--like the Rocky Hill Road Race photo above. Although I smashed my personal best time, placed second, and nearly beat the Masters State Time Trial Champion, I hurt my lower back. However, the pain was not in its usual location and seemed to be in my right sacroiliac joint. So, I decided that the injury was not serious and trained through the pain, for my favorite race of the year--the Henry Coe Time Trial--was up next and I had been training all year for it. On 10/20/02, while still in pain, I blasted up the 7 mile climb, which is at a 7% grade, in 33 minutes and placed second. I remember feeling a burring pain in my left SI joint all the way up the climb--little did I know that burring SI joint pain was really the spawning of a full thickness annular tear at L4 and L5. My season was over and so was my life as I knew it. After resting for a week or two, I tried to climb back on the bike and immediately flared up severely, After another 2-3 weeks of rest, I tried again and flared up again. The cycle of rest and flare-up continued until January 1st, 2003. On this day, while still in pain, I attempted to calibrate a new $2500 bike trainer for use over the winter by cranking up the speed to 40 mile per hour, which generated over 500 pounds of force (as measured by my SRM) on the pedals. I NEVER RECOVERED FROM THAT FLARE-UP AND DEVELOPED SCIATICA THE NEXT DAY.

That's my sad tale. Disc herniation-associated sciatica only chronically affects about 3% of its victims, but If I knew then what I know now, I NEVER would have pushed myself past the point of no return.

Update: 2006 and 2007 has found me doing somewhat better. Although I have not been able to return to competitive athletics, I am pretty much pain free now and can do what more "normal" folks do minus the sports or anything physical.

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