As much as I like the chiropractor I’ve been seeing the past few weeks, I’ve come to the conclusion that chiropractic care does not seem to be healing my leg injury. The chiropractor’s adjustments have been very helpful in temporarily healing my back, although it seems that any wrong move brings back the back pain (e.g. a resistance training workout on Sunday meant that my lower back was throbbing most of yesterday). This has led me to believe that there is some underlying issue that is not being solved. I have no idea if my back issues are related to my leg but it does appear to be a possibility.

I have an appointment tomorrow morning with a physiatrist. I’ve never heard of the field so I really have no idea what to expect - this is just the next step that my doctor outlined (if seeing a chiropractor didn’t help).

So this new specialist will be medical person #4 that I’ve seen to try to solve this problem (first my doctor, then the physical therapist, then the chiropractor). I’m really really really hoping that this guy knows what he’s doing, takes my issue seriously, accurately diagnoses it, comes up with a concrete treatment plan, gives me a solid time line for recovery, and finally heals my pesky leg! But given my track record so far, I’m trying not to get my hopes up. If he ends up being a jerk (an unfortunate reality in my experiences with doctors - likely due to my weight and their preconceived notions about what that means about me) or doesn’t figure out how to heal my injury, I’m giving up on my doctor’s plan for healing this injury. I’m now thinking my next steps after this guy will be to see somebody in sports medicine at PAMF or Stanford. I’ll probably try PAMF first since my old doctor used to be there and I’ve seen specialists there (and I really have no idea how easy/hard it would be to see somebody at Stanford and if I’d need a referral).

In so many ways, this experience has led me to objectively question my doctor’s judgment, whom I only started seeing last fall (after an awful experience with the doctor I had for a couple of years at PAMF). I really don’t want to switch doctors yet again but I’m having a hard time justifying seeing a doctor who is out of network (meaning I pay some out of pocket costs and have to file all the messy insurance paperwork myself) when she can’t help me quickly and efficiently heal an injury. It sucks because I really liked her - she seemed very thorough, personable, smart, patient, caring, and encouraging. But none of that really matters right now - I just want somebody to help me get back to my normal active self. Aside from the physical pain, this has been an emotionally devastating experience for me. I really miss hiking and running. And I miss feeling so great about myself. :( I wish I can find a specialist who really gets how important this is for me.