To read the tribute to SFC Marcus Muralles, please click here
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Hello? Is This Thing On?
Yeah... I know... I've been MIA on the blog. Well, I didn't really want to do more Blame Game about Katrina (but, you know, Mayor Nagin is "tired" of hearing the choppers... he wants to hear some jazz. Uh... Mayor... those helicopters saved thousands of your constituents. Get over it. Buy a cd if you want to listen to jazz.) And the Roberts' hearing is just goofy (we now know that Judge Roberts liked Dr. Zhivago and North by Northwest. And we know that Biden and Schumer are idiots... but, wait... we already knew that.) And, there's just that much else going on.
Except for one thing. This past Monday, I started Lordex therapy for my back. (I have a chronic lower back condition.) I had seen the Lordex commercials on tv, and I thought, 'Hey, that's cool. But I'm sure insurance won't cover it, so... oh, well.' T2 finally talked me into calling and checking into it. Woohoo! Insurance does cover it (with a copay).
Here's how it works. When you first get there, you spend about 15 minutes on the strength machine (which strengthens the muscles right around the spine in the lumbar region). It's not painful... but it's a workout, that's for sure. Then a harness is placed on your hips, and you get onto the Decompression machine. It looks like a modern version of a medieval torture rack, but... honestly... it feels GREAT. I mean... if you have compressed disks, having the vertebrae that have been squishing the disks pulled apart is a wonderful thing. That lasts about 30 minutes, then it's back on the strength machine for a couple of minutes with no resistance to stretch those muscles.
This week, I'm going every day. Then I'll go 3x/week for 2 months. After that, I'll have to do exercises to keep the muscles toned so that they can support my lumbar spine (since my disks are not quite doing their job any more).
Except for one thing. This past Monday, I started Lordex therapy for my back. (I have a chronic lower back condition.) I had seen the Lordex commercials on tv, and I thought, 'Hey, that's cool. But I'm sure insurance won't cover it, so... oh, well.' T2 finally talked me into calling and checking into it. Woohoo! Insurance does cover it (with a copay).
Here's how it works. When you first get there, you spend about 15 minutes on the strength machine (which strengthens the muscles right around the spine in the lumbar region). It's not painful... but it's a workout, that's for sure. Then a harness is placed on your hips, and you get onto the Decompression machine. It looks like a modern version of a medieval torture rack, but... honestly... it feels GREAT. I mean... if you have compressed disks, having the vertebrae that have been squishing the disks pulled apart is a wonderful thing. That lasts about 30 minutes, then it's back on the strength machine for a couple of minutes with no resistance to stretch those muscles.
This week, I'm going every day. Then I'll go 3x/week for 2 months. After that, I'll have to do exercises to keep the muscles toned so that they can support my lumbar spine (since my disks are not quite doing their job any more).
