I heard my first “hey there” from my body shortly after I started practicing yoga. This would’ve been around May 2014 or so. I remember because I was taking a life-coaching workshop at that same time and I was exploring different avenues of exercise. Even though I had started down my road to wellness much earlier, I hadn’t yet earned to listen to the subtle cues of my body. I only heard the harsh admonishments and even then, it took a few verbal assaults before I finally listened.

I started doing yoga at my local 24 Hour Fitness because it was included in my membership. The yoga room was right off the main weight room and I liked that they turned the lights off for a more subdued experience. I liked the darkness of the studio because it kept me from looking around and noting my lack of flexibility compared to the rest of the group. Plus, it helped quiet my mind. The less light and movement I could see in the mirror, the less noisy it was in my mind.

Everything about yoga required me to tune into my body; how far I could push myself, how long I could hold a pose, how my breath sounded and felt in my body, what felt tight, and what it felt like to release that tension.

It was this “tuning in” on the mat that led me to tune in all the time. I seemed to feel every little ping, tweak, or ache whereas before, I either ignored it or was too distracted to realize what was happening.

My new body intuition helped me notice knee pain a few days after lifting heavy weights and that I needed to warm up more, especially my IT bands. It helped me notice the random burning in my breast tissue near my saline implants. I noticed achy joints, a weird rash on my chest that flared up randomly, and achy joints which caused me to look into side effects of having my implants. This noticing led me to remove said implants.

I’m super thankful for this body intuition because, without it, I think I would have missed a really, really big sign that my body wasn’t okay.

Let me back up for a second. A few years ago, I started having lower back pain. It started when I bent over the bathroom sink to brush my teeth and felt a pain shoot up my back. Legit, I couldn’t move. I found a chiropractor, they took some x-rays and learned I had a herniated disc. And it appeared that I have a couple of discs that were degenerating which can cause pain as the vertebrae lose the cushioning between them. After many weeks of adjustments and even some acupuncture, I felt back to normal.

At that time, I wasn’t great about taking calcium and vitamin D regularly and when I finally started, I found out later with some blood test that I wasn’t absorbing my supplements very well. Which meant I was probably mineral deficient for a while.

Then a couple of years ago, my lower back pain reappeared. It would show up after a lower-body heavy workout or sleeping funny. I visited a different chiropractor and began getting laser treatment on the inflamed area as well. This chiropractor told me that the pain was because my hips were out of alignment. So we focused only on my hips. Adjustment, laser, repeat.

That worked…until it didn’t. Ever since this Christmas, I’ve been in constant pain. It hasn't been excruciating, just very uncomfortable. It’s always worse in the morning and as the day goes on it eases up. But lifting weights, bending down, and picking up my very heavy dog have been out of the question. This was not how I pictured getting older, especially when I eat well and take care of myself. I haven’t gotten this far with my health to only go this far.

Enter yet another chiropractor. I would’ve visited one earlier but we had just switched insurance and I had yet to figure out who was in our network. Enter Dr. Jess Bohlke. I met Jess a couple of years ago through our mutual love of Enjoy Pure Food eatery here in Kansas City and bonded with her over many things after. Since I’d met her, she’d become a chiropractor and opened her own practice.

I knew she was who I needed to see about this issue. I knew she’d have answers.

The first thing we did was get x-rays. And that was where others failed. I haven’t had x-rays in a while maybe four or five years. That is where the story gets crazy.

You guys.

I have scoliosis. Yes, that thing that you only thought kids got because every year you had to touch your toes at the pediatrician’s office to see if your spine was straight. My kids did the same yearly check and never in a million years did I think it would be the cause of my issues.

Here are the pictures of my spine.

My spine is a freaking backward “S”! No wonder I have back pain! And, there are so many other things that had been happening that I had no idea were probably tied to my misalignment.

For example, my cervical bones, C1 and C2 are pushing together a little. The nerves they serve have to do with blood supply to the head, pituitary gland, scalp, facial bones, brain, inner and middle ear, eyes, ears, tongue, forehead, and sinuses. I have been getting random pains by temples and when I lift sometimes, I feel a pulsing in my head.

Next, my C6 and C7 misalignment can cause stiff neck, arm pain, tonsillitis, persistent cough, bursitis, colds, and thyroid conditions. Stiff neck? Check. Also, I went into menopause this past year so what if that has to do with a thyroid issue? Hmmm.

T6 and T9 can cause indigestion, heartburn, dyspepsia, allergies, and chronic fatigue. Allergies have kicked up for me again which haven’t been an issues in YEARS and my energy has been off (not wanting to get up in the morning and also feeling groggy in the afternoon) so this makes sense.

L1 and L5 can cause colitis, diarrhea, hernia, IBS, constipation, poor circulation in legs, swollen/weak ankles, cold feet, leg cramps, and weakness in legs. Oof. I’ve had a variety of these things sprinkled over the past couple of years but never thought they could be tied to my spine! I mean I rolled my ankle on the lip of my garage and broke a bone. My ankles haven’t felt strong since.

So here we are. Well, here I am, finally getting some relief and some answers. While I thought I was really good at listening to my body, it seems that I wasn’t listening as well as I should’ve been. But the one thing I did RIGHT was I listened to my gut when it said, “See a different chiropractor.” I’m on a structured plan of attack with Dr. Jess and couldn’t be more thrilled at the progress I’ve already made.

I think chiropractic care is a great preventative maintenance tool as well as something to seek out when health issues start to pop up. Our spine is responsible for the proper workings of our nervous system and it can be a great place to start when seeking answers.