Testimonials - Shoulder and Arm Pain

December 20, 2001

Dear Dr. Daryl Kowalik and Staff,

At age 55, my body has the normal aches and pains. However, about a year ago I noticed that my left arm was losing a fair amount of range in motion. It hurt to put my arm in a sleeve, I couldn’t hook anything behind my back, it was more and more difficult to comb my hair and finally, I couldn’t sleep on either side at night.

Having raised 3 athletes, I immediately made an appointment with a sports medicine orthopedic doctor. I was x-rayed and told that I had a bone spear. I was told with a shot of cortizone directly into my shoulder would relieve the pain and allow me to sleep. I was told that sometimes the pain would not come back. I didn’t get any relief at all, so back to the doctor I went. This time he set me up with a physical therapy three times a week. I was about 6 weeks away from a scuba diving trip with my family so I religiously went every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I did regain some range of motion, but the pain was as bad. Needless to say, I went on my trip to Cancun and watched everyone dive. I did some very painful swimming and that was it.

When I returned, I made another appointment to try to get some other opinions. After all, I was not injured in any kind of accident. I couldn’t understand why I was losing my left arm. I was again x-rayed; said no to any more cortizone shots and was set up for an MRI to see if surgery was the answer. After the MRI, the doctor said he couldn’t see anything that would tell him that surgery would help. He proceeded to tell about an embarrassing moment when another patient with a problem such as mine had a neck problem and went to a chiropractor and when adjusting her neck, the arm was fixed. The doctor gave me a prescription for some pain relievers to help me sleep. At the end of 7 days, my arm was feeling less painful, but not much. I complained to everyone about my problem because I wasn’t sleeping, every time I moved my arm in the wrong direction I would yelp! Everyone had a different kind of doctor that I should see.

A friend gave me Dr. Kowalik’s card and told me he could help. I responded, “I’ve never been to a bone cracker! No thanks!” She kept working on me and told me that it would help. Finally, I was desperate for some sleep and I called Dr. Kowalik’s office. I asked if he would work on a real chicken that was scared to death of having a chiropractor touch me. He laughed at me and told me that I was his favorite challenge.

I was so frightened by the idea of having adjustments that I insisted on paying for all the visits that he estimated it would take in advance so I would have to come to get my moneys worth.

I’m now a believer. After 3 adjustments (one week) I noticed that I could sleep on one side. After 6 adjustments (2 weeks) I noticed that I could sleep on both sides. Every week I was able to do something that I wasn’t able to do the week before. It has been three months now and I have missed a few appointments but I have almost my entire range of motion back in my left arm. There is just a small amount left to regain, but I am confident that it will happen. Other things that I wasn’t complaining about happened also. At my age, I tend to go to the restroom at least twice every night. About 3 weeks ago, I realized that I had slept the entire night several nights without getting up. I also have found that I can turn my head to see over both shoulders. Something I thought was a natural loss with age.

My thanks to Dr. Kowalik and his staff for their encouragement and willingness to help.

Carole Nickel

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