The Brag Page: The Story of ChiroGeek
The Brag Page: The Story of ChiroGeek |
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My MRIs/EMG/CT | Post Op Contrast MRI | 1 Year Post Op 3T contrast MRI | My Disability Scores ChiroGeek's Story:
Although I played American football from age 6 though 19, I believe that a jump off of a 15-foot slide that occurred at the age of 9 damaged the vertebral end-plates of my lowest lumbar vertebrae, as well as my lower two discs. This axial over-load injury set in train the phenomenon of pathological disc degeneration that came full circle in 2002, when the disc herniated (tore open and bulged out). I also recall another axial over-load injury that occurred when I was about 13 years old: I was swinging on a long rope from our boat house out and over the lake while seated on a thin wooden board. Suddenly the rope broke, and I plummeted about 15 feet into the swallow water below. I landed hard in a seated position and remembering have a few days of pain as a result. I am sure all of the years of very heavy weight lifting (regularly worked with weights over 500 pounds) and Olympic-level hammer throwing did not help things. Despite my "bad back", I was still able to compete at the national level in NCAA Collegiate Track and Field, and later at an Olympic level. 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. After college, I continued pushing for my dream--to become an Olympian. Although I made two Olympic Festival Teams and was an alternate on the 1988 Olympic Team, an injury to--you guessed it--my lower back ended my Olympic quest in 1989. Recently, all that blood, sweat and tears semi-payed off, for I was inducted into the Ferris State University Athletic Hall of Fame--Class of 2006 [Gillard--Bio]. That was a great honor! Also, if it wasn't for the hammer, I would have nerve met my loving wife Lydia--so it was all worth it! My fascination with the human body and curiosity with regard to the genesis of my own lower back problems drove me into Chiropractic College in the early 1980s; although, my childhood dream was to follow in my fathers footsteps and become a medical doctor. In 1983, I gained acceptance into Life Chiropractic College and moved away from the snow belt to Marietta, Georgia. This move greatly helped my Hammer Throwing because I could now train outdoors all year-round--I never had to salt and shovel snow off the hammer circle again. In 1986 I graduated with honors (Cum Laude) from Life Chiropractic College with a doctorate in Chiropractic and quickly moved to San Jose, California, which is where one of the Olympic Hammer coaches lived. I owe a lot to coach Burke, who not only fine- tuned my throwing technique, but also landed me a job as an Athletic Trainer with a top-notch physical therapy group where I learned more about rehabilitation in 9 months than I did in my entire four years of Chiropractic College!
The 1989 season started great! I was setting training records like crazy. That is, I hit over 72 feet with the 35 Pound Weight (still a top-10 U.S. throw) and was having 240 foot training throws in January--four months before the season began was due to begin. My coach predicted that I would crack the 250 foot barrier that year, which would have ranked me in the world. Then it happened: It was late January, and I was in the later phases of a very heavy weight lifting cycle. While doing triplets (sets of three repetitions with a barbell), I slipped while power cleaning 352 pounds from the floor to my chest--there was too much baby powder on the platform (which I should have cleaned off). I hyperextended my lower back during that incident, which ultimately cost 8 weeks of training --my season was shot; although, I still achieved a U.S. Ranking of fourth that year and set a personal best in the hammer of over 237 feet--a long way from my Ferris State University record of 200 feet, which still stands to this day. Unfortunately, my lower back was never the same after that lifting injury. It could handle the throwing, but not the very heavy weight lifting that was mandatory for continued improvement. That is, every time I loaded over 550 pounds on my back (which is not that much for an Olympic Level throwing athlete), I would suffer days of pain. My throwing career was over, and I focussed on building my Chiropractic career. THE FOOL: After quitting my low paying chiropractic associate job, I turned my energy towards building my own chiropractic practice. It wasn't long before I was one of the busiest chiropractors in the Bay area. At our peak, we were seeing over 125 patients per day--life was good and we helped thousand of back and neck pain patients. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the thrill of competition out of my head! In the early 1990s, to took a run at becoming a professional golfer. Although it wasn't throwing hammers, I was a natural at hitting golf balls. In fact, I was down to a 2 tournament-handicap with three years. Again, however, my lower back rebelled, which forced my retirement from the sport after too many flare-ups. Next I decided to learn to play the guitar and sing, which I did with easy. After about three years, I formed a Blues Band (Dr. Doug and the Blues Creepers) and cut two CDs--I had always been musically gifted, which I gave up for high school football and track & field. We were just taking off around the Bay area (playing three gigs per weeks) when another health problem reared its ugly head and scared me into quitting--it was a benign heart arrhythmia that freaked me out, but I lost the drive to continue.
(photo right) Here I'm finishing 5th out of 100 riders in big, 70 mile, race in southern California . Note the extreme lumbar flexion that must be maintained! This is a terrible biomechanical position for a disc patient to endure!!!! I of asking for trouble!! The Final Incident of Injury: The 2002 season was off to a good start: I was well healed from a severe back injury, which occurred while riding in Hawaii--boy was my wife upset over that one. My ticker was working without a hitch, and my body seemed to hold up well to a grueling three-month Winter training schedule, where I logged about 1300 miles over 120 hour of riding. I had now become a real threat in my Master's Category division: I won two medals at the famous Sea Otter Classic (including a 2nd place finish out of over 100 riders), as well as many other high place finishes (I even had my first victory). I owe some of this success to the hiring a former pro cyclist to guild my training. But, I was getting lazy! That is, I was slacking off on my methodical warm-up routine that involved 30 minutes of stretching and core exercises--I figured all the back pain was gone, so what was the point; I was an Olympic class athlete who was indestructible... right? Wrong! The season was almost over and--as usual--I was over-trained. The first injury occurred during a 25 mile individual time-trial, which demanded the holding of that crazy, aerodynamic position as demonstrated in the Rocky Hill Road Race photo above. Although I smashed my personal best time (placed second in the race, and nearly beat the Masters State Time Trial Champion) I hurt my lower back for the first time in three years. However, the pain was not in its usual location and seemed to be in my right sacroiliac joint (the opposite side as usual). So, I decided that the injury was not serious and trained through the pain--big mistake--for my favorite race of the year--the Henry Coe Time Trial--was up next, and I had been training for that race all year--there was no way I was going to miss that. 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 behind a 130 pound pure veteran climber. I remember feeling a strange burring pain in my left SI joint, which continued all the way up the climb--little did I know that burring SI joint pain was really a "referred pain" spawning by a full thickness annular tear(s) within my L4 and L5. My season and entire athletic career was about to change forever (well, it's 2012, and I still can't compete at that kind of level or any level for that matter. After resting for a week or two (an eternity for an athlete), I tried to climb back on the bike, which immediately resulted in a flared. After another 2-3 weeks of rest, I tried again to ride 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 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. This was the last straw and resulted in severe lower back pain. The Last Straw: The next day, I had my six-foot five, 280 pound employee / doctor of Chiropractic work on my lower back on a flexion / distraction table. I told this incredibly strong doctor to go easy, but he went too hard and blow out my disc, which caused a burning pain all the way down my left lower limb (sciatica) within 30 minutes following that treatment. My friend sciatic--although it comes and goes--has always been lurking since this incident. ON THE MEND (10/06/08): It has taken about 3-4 years to recover from that SCIATICA greater than lower back pain. (By the way, the surgery I had {microdiscectomy at L5/S1} set me back at least 18 months and was a complete failure). It's now 10/06/08, and although I'm doing much better, I still get occasional attacks of mild sciatica and back pain about once every three months. I also have failed to return to any form of sporting activity. I can, however, walk flat as long as I want, sit as long as I want, and lift up to about 40-50 pounds (the days of lifting over 500 pounds are definitely gone). I'm going to buy an indoor bike and see how it goes, so stay tuned! CAREER CHANGE ATTEMPT: I'm also in the process of changing careers--or at least giving it my best shot. I just finished four semesters of school at San Jose State University in preparation for osteopathic or medical school. Although it was hard starting out with such rigorous classes after a 20 year hiatus from school--I jumped right into Genetics and General Chemistry (not the easier introductory classes, but the real ones that are required of all pre-med students)--I am now back in the swing of things. In fact, I aced my final semester of General Chemistry 2, and Cell Biology with a perfect 4.0 G.P.A. My over all G.P.A. for the two years of classes is a 3.68 and my pure science G.P.A. is 3.57--such a G.P.A. is good enough to get me into nearly any medical or osteopathic school. The new problem is that damn MCAT! It makes the chiropractic boards look like a joke! Never have I studied so long or hard for something only to be crushed. That is, I just took the test on 09/13/08, and believe I didn't do well enough for even Osteopathic College (which has a little lower threshold than does Medical School). Two years of refreshing classes just wasn't enough to tackle that test.... but we shall see how I did. The Verbal reasoning portion was especially difficult--I'm a very slow reader. Ideally I need another year to prepare exclusively for that test, but at 48 years of age, I just don't think I have the time. Update: 5-17-11: I finally was able to get into medical school and feel ready for the challenge. My back is now fantastic, and I have no more limitation--except lifting super heavy, which I probably could do, but common sense dictates that's not a good thing to do. See my diary for more. 1-24-11: Medical school just didn't work out. Not only was it a huge financial drain (my wife lost her job and our medical coverage), I have learned a 51-year old brain just doesn't quickly grab things like a 20 year old brain does--duh! And it was so very hard to be away from my wife and family. So now what? I'm so smart right now.... PhD? PA? It looks like something even more exciting is taking form..... stay tuned.
© Copyright 2002 – 2012 by Douglas M. Gillard, DC - All rights reserved |
