I grew up in a traditional, conservative culture.  Alternative stuff like Sushi joints, Smoothie shops and Chiropractors were not to be found in our system of beliefs.

Because of my conservative upbringing in a traditional society, I have always been afraid of chiropractors.  So, when I sustained a minor back injury, I went to traditional medicine for treatment.  They claimed that, other than surgery, there was no treatment available.  Years later I got fed up with the primary care physicians’ (PCP) lying and insisted that he give me a referral to a back specialist.  I found a spine and sports orthopedics doctor (no help from the PCP) and, big surprise, traditional medicine was wrong.  An alternative treatment exists called the McKinsey protocol which the orthopedics community in Austin has been prescribing for around 20 years, and it works!  After going through therapy, I’m not afraid of the pops that my joints sometimes make during the exorcises and I’m even open to trying out a chiropractor, since my orthopedic doctor recommended it to treat a different minor injury sustained in a car wreck.  So, I just finished my first chiropractor adjustment a couple days ago which has also worked wonders for chronic pain that built up after the wreck.  This morning, I’m back for round two.

The adjustment went fine.  Snap, Crackle, Pop…60 seconds later, D-U-N, done.  Nothing scary or quackish there.  The thing that struck me as odd was the follow up treatment.  So, the attendant leads me into a darkish room and I’m now laying on the “traction bed” looking up at the ceiling at four lights that are so dim, they don’t seem to be functional.  The attendant disappears beside the bed while I stare at the toy lights.  I hear the twist of a rotary dial, a sound that reminds me of the olive green egg timer mom used to have back in the 80’s.  The attendant re-emerges wearing a huge friendly smile and says, “Two minutes!  When it dings your done…just come on out!” (smiley girl face).  She closes the door on her way out.  The bed is like what you see in a typical doctor’s exam room, except it has a motorized wheel that pushes gently into your back, like one of those massage pads that you can get online for $69.95 except it doesn’t do half as much (and probably costs a thousand times more).  It feels like putting a pool noodle under the arch of your back and rolling back and forth for a while.  Two minutes pass and the bed dings.  I knew it!  It’s a hidden egg timer!

As I walk out towards the check out desk/attendants station, I now understand why the attendant/checkout girl is so smiley.  The unexpected take-away…Nostalgic memories of swing sets, transformers and, yup….easy bake ovens.  As a bonus, on the way home you have an excuse to stop and pickup something sweet that’s covered in frosting.