Chiropractor

Before I talk about my trusty chiropractor, I'll mention that I ran for an hour last night and an hour this morning and I'll run for another hour tonight - all easy.

Today, I had an appointment with a chiropractor that I see periodically. His wife is an ultrarunner who has been on the national 100K team a number of times, and he is the go-to-guy for distance runners in Vermont.

I don't have a huge problem, but an adjustment every 6-8 weeks has been my pattern for the last couple years. Basically, when I tore my ACL and then had it repaired in 2002, my knee extension in my left leg changed a bit. This has altered my stride a bit, and over time, I have an imbalance that develops in my hips. This causes my left leg to functionally shorten and my right leg absorbs more of a beating than the left. It's very noticeable on a treadmill, where the rotation in my hip shows up clearly - my right leg will bump the front rail on the treadmill at times, but never my left leg.

Today, the chiro thought things were pretty bad when I got there, but some e-stim fixed most of the problem. After that, a quick adjustment in the hip area on each side, and I was good to go.

When I first started seeing him a couple years ago, the problem was reversed. The e-stim would show a small improvement and then a major adjustment was needed to fix things. These days, he says it's about 90/10 in the ligaments rather than the fascia, and I can work on this myself with stretches.

My appointments with him have been somewhat ad hoc over the past couple years. When I feel things aren't right, I make an appointment, wait two weeks until he has an opening, and he takes care of me. We decided today to go for once-a-month work with Western States out there for next year. Being married to an ultrarunner, even though she races primarily on the roads, he understands the importance of Western States to me.

If any other runners in the area want his name, I'd be glad to provide it. I have to admit that I'm biased, because I work for the same hospital system that employs this guy, but I started seeing him before I came to work here. He also works with a fantastic podiatrist who was running sub-3 marathons in his late 50s, but has now become a road biker. Between the pair of them and their PTs, they run a great clinic for runners.