Pointy Needles of Healing

I got into the (new) chiropractor today. I think I'm going to like her - she seems nice and knowledgable and just alternative medicine enough without being too granola. I got a nice adjustment to my mid and lower back, a painful adjustment to my shoulder (the doc told me I could scream if I needed to but thankfully it wasn't that bad), some electric shocks to super-unhappy shoulder muscles (which always delights me to the point that I'm probably weird) and, wait for it..... acupuncture!

Yep, the new chiro does chiropractic and acupuncture (and has a massage therapist that works out of her office, too). She offered it as an option and I figured, what the heck. So she took me into a separate room, had me lay on my stomach then tapped 6 little needles into me. (Well, at least I assume they were the little acupuncture needles. Since it was on my back I couldn't actually see what she was doing.) Then I hung out for 20 minutes and relaxed while listening to flowing water and instrumental music. Then the doctor came in to remove the pointies.

Honestly, the acupuncture was all sort of disappointingly anticlimactic. I only felt a little tap as the things went in and for the relaxation time I didn't feel like there was anything in my shoulder. Removing the needles was more noticeable as there seemed to be a twinge of drag pulling them out but I don't know. I thought there'd be more "Oh my god, needles, in my skin! Eep!" kind of thing going on and nope. It was fairly relaxing. (According to Dan I do have a few small red spots on my shoulder so apparently that's all the needle-evidence I get.)

However, anticlimactic needling or not, my shoulder feels worlds better. There's still some muscle tightness (which might actually get a little worse since my shoulder has been wonky for so long) but mobility is drastically improved and I have only a small bit of pain left when I do movements that yesterday would have made me yelp. So rock on for the adjustments, electricity and needles.

I go back to the chiro on Wednesday and I think I'm going to keep the acupuncture in the rotation to see how it goes. Who knows, maybe it will help get things all straightened out with my system (above and beyond the shoulder) and help keep me healthy during the upcoming bronchitis season.

(Oh, the doctor says that I most likely managed to sprain my shoulder. Fun!)