Question
hello.
in 2005 I was rear-ended, I was merging into a lane, and due to a vehicle running a red light, I had to slow, and the person behind me hit me at 35km/hr. I was looking over my left shoulder when hit, watching the other vechile run the red light. I sought medical help, its been 2yrs. My Dr. prescribed massage therapy(8x), for 3months I was off work, and since I have returned f/t. I am an interior exterior painter and prior to this incident I was in good health.  Currently my left side of my neck is tight and no amount of stretches is relieving it. tightness and pain are throughout my left shoulder blade and My lower left side of my back is in spasms but worse, are the cramps throughout my pelvis area of the muscles. My right side of my body becomes tight and painful to move.  Pricks of cool pain streak from my back into my hip, through my knee and down my foot from the ankle. occasionally I have cool streaks of pain race up the inside of my right thigh. It is difficult to move my leg up or down or to bend my knee, my torso is unable to bend at the pelvis for sitting on a toliet. I have had to urinate standing several times. My question is, how do i make it stop? since my injuries 2 years ago my Dr has stated I just need to keep working, and exercise regularly that I am experiencing chronic pain, and i have to live with it.  For 2yrs, everytime I am physical in my job, and as a painter that is generally always, within min of 2 days I am unable to walk normally for limping, and I have at least 6days of ice and heat and endless pain to live through, before I can get the spasms in my neck and back to cease so I can walk.  I swim 2-3x a week and have a very physical job.  Exercise is not fixing it as I was told it would. I am worried I have a more serious injury than I have been told. so, what advice can you give me? What is the problem with me? How do I fix it?

Answer
I hate to give a simple answer to a long question, but have you tried chiropractic?  No matter what you have heard (if you have heard negative things about chiropractic), they are not true.  Chiropractic will help re-align the spine to take pressure off of the nerves, reduce the severity of the muscle spasms, and eventually get you back to pain-free working.  If you are interested, go to www.sorsi.com to locate a doctor near you.  I am a member of this group and would trust any one of them with my own family.  I am located in St. Paul, Minnesota and would be more than happy to see you.  If you have any other questions or concerns, please email me.

Dr. Starbuck