“I was very inconsolable, you know, it’s like watching your life move on without you in it. That was not something I thought I’d have to face at 17”. 

Catie was just a sophomore when she went up to hit a volleyball during practice and hurt her back. In fact, the pain was so overwhelming that she had to crawl off the court. With no history of back injuries, Catie hoped she could rest for a few days and be back at practice as good as new. That wasn’t the case for Catie. She spent the next couple of years bouncing around from doctor to doctor with no answers as to why she couldn’t alleviate her debilitating back pain. However, her resilience and bravery led her through her painful journey to finding RIOT Manual Therapy, where she found answers and relief from her debilitating back pain. 

‌The Struggles of Conventional Treatments

After Catie’s injury, her parents took her to get x-rays to ensure there weren’t any breaks. When the x-rays came back clear, they took her to athletic trainers who were stumped by her condition. An orthopedic doctor told Catie that she might have arthritis at 16. After an MRI, a different doctor said she might have pars defect. After seeing three physical therapists, enduring several rounds of acupuncture, and trying specialized yoga, microneedling, and a back brace for 16 weeks, Catie and her family were at a loss for how to relieve her pain. 

Catie was unable to participate in volleyball during critical months of the season, struggled to go to school where sitting was unbearable. When she went to prom, she ended up on the couch in debilitating pain for multiple days. Her pain was constant and debilitating, and as Catie says, “I fell into a depression.” Missing out on highlights of high school and the culmination of her years playing volleyball took a toll on Catie, but perhaps the biggest heartache in her life was the feelings of hopelessness. After all the therapies, doctor appointments, scans, and dead ends, Catie and her family felt defeated. 

The Turning Point: RIOT’s Manual Therapy

Catie’s mom is a middle school teacher, and one day, after calling Catie’s school to excuse her absence due to her back pain, her students asked about Catie’s condition. Upon hearing the hopelessness in her teacher’s voice, one student said, “My dad has magic hands!” and gave her dad’s information to Catie’s mom. Within a week, Catie and her mom were sitting in the exam room at RIOT. Little did they know this was the starting point for Catie’s healing. 

The Road to Recovery

‌The initial assessment revealed that Catie’s right leg was significantly longer than her left because her alignment was so off balance. In fact, after her first appointment, Catie reported that she felt like she was walking lopsided when, in reality, she was finally walking with alignment for the first time in years. 

There was no arthritis, no permanent injury, just the body trying to compensate for her original injury.  In some ways, the body is miraculous for attempting to protect that injury from more harm by overcompensating in some areas and under-functioning in others. Until the root of the problem was addressed through manual therapy at RIOT, it was simply trying to protect itself from more harm. Once we addressed the root cause of her pain, her body quickly recognized that it no longer needed to protect her back, and the pain subsided.

TRENDING: How Manual Therapy Restored An Active Lifestyle

Catie continued treatment with RIOT Manual Therapy, including some appointments to continue undoing the damage caused by years of misalignment and home stretches. With newfound hope and confidence in her healing, Catie returned back to her normal life. Graduation, college, friends, work, and even volleyball became regular features in Catie’s life. Her bright and confident spirit helped her maintain her healing, and now, she enjoys a beautiful, active life! 

The Benefits of Manual Therapy

Conventional approaches to pain management and relief seek to heal the symptoms of the pain rather than the root cause of the pain. Medication, chiropractic work, physical therapy, injections, and other types of pain interventions focus on the symptom and not what is causing it. 

While these methods might work in the short term, they don’t last and often require major lifelong adjustments that, again, don’t address the root of the pain. That’s why manual therapy is so effective—we understand that everything in the body works together—and we use this knowledge as we address the underlying cause of the pain. 

You might come into RIOT Manual Therapy with shoulder pain, only to find out that your shoulder pain is actually related to your hips being out of balance, negatively affecting your gait, feet, back, and more. The body compensates around the dysfunction and causes pain somewhere else in the body, and when you are injured like Catie was, it will do everything it can to protect that area of the body. Because Catie was out of alignment, which led to her hurting her back, her hips, shoulders, legs, neck, and feet compensated to prevent further injury.  

When we addressed the misalignment in her body, we lessened the need for her body to compensate. We customized a plan for her, and with her routine checkups and home program, she has found lasting pain relief. Catie got her life back right in time for young adulthood and has enjoyed an active and happy life since then. In fact, she said, “I was back in my life again.”  

‌Ready to Feel Better? Book Now.

Catie isn’t our first patient to come to us as a last resort, and she won’t be the last. Often, more invasive options are presented as the only treatments available, so when those treatments don’t work, people with chronic pain feel hopeless. 

The most satisfying part of our work is offering noninvasive, long-term, maintainable pain relief to people who thought they would be in pain for the rest of their lives. Manual therapy and our years of experience have allowed us to restore the vitality and youth of so many, and we couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity. 

If you or someone you love is struggling with pain, come and find out why RIOT Manual Therapy has a reputation for improving lives. It’s time to RIOT against your chronic pain and start living again. 

Contact us today to set up an appointment so you can feel better faster.