Cianci Chiropractic Center Success Stories

It’s ironic how the simplest of things can many times end up being the most important.

The message might come from an unlikely source but, all of a sudden, the picture becomes clear.

For Leon “Lee” Young, it was his dog Riley tugging at the end of the leash. Instead of the “master” being the guiding force, the roles were reversed. Riley was sending the message to the man on the other end. Riley wanted to take the longer, four-mile walk. Lee was cutting it short ….. from pain. Riley didn’t understand that his walk was being
shortened by an incident that occurred some 52 years ago, long before his birth.

Back in 1961, Lee Young, a Vietnam veteran, was in jump school with the United States Army. “I had a good jump,” Lee recalled with a chuckle, “but a bad landing.’’

“I kinda landed strangely and got banged up. I jumped the next day, and then just went on.’’ Ten years later it was time to pay for the damage caused in that bad fall, with an emergency Friday evening visit to the operating room at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

One of Lee’s discs had ‘exploded’ in his back and, with his left leg paralyzed and other internal issues developing, he was rushed into the operating room. Lee is quick to praise the job the surgeons did with the laminectomy, especially under those circumstances. (A laminectomy is the surgical removal of bone to widen the spinal canal.

“Ever since that night, I’ve had some good days and some bad days, good weeks and bad weeks,’’ said Lee. “You don’t mess around in there and walk away perfectly. My back issues started in ‘61 and sorta got focused in ‘71.’’

But it was a bit of good luck that brought Lee comfort, and assured Riley of continued long walks… Although his back had started to hurt more and more, Lee had the good fortune to meet, and eventually marry, his wife of five years, Elaine.

“I met her and she was seeing Dr. Chris Cianci at that time. I went with her to her appointments and kinda just observed while existing with my own back issues,’’ said Lee. “Dr. Cianci did one of his presentations and I went with Elaine, listened to what he had to say and went for an evaluation.

He said ‘Lee, I think I can help you get over the hump with these issues’, so I started to come to see him. Sure enough, it’s been a very calming activity for my back and the rest of my body.

He’s kind of maintained a pretty good balance for me, and when I have a flare-up, we increase the number of visits, and whatever he is doing eases them off very nicely.’’

Twice a month, Dr. Cianci holds health enrichment workshops in his office. It is in this open discussion environment that barriers are knocked down and the treatment options are explained and explored.

“What he said made a lot of sense to me. I had nothing to lose and I’m very, very pleased with the outcome,’’ said Lee.

“I recommend the class to anybody. I think so many people have a preconceived negative opinion of chiropractors – that they are going to go in and the doc is going to twist them and hurt them and they don’t want to deal with it. That simply doesn’t happen. The class gives a super-good perspective on what it’s about and what it can do and what its limitations are’’, said Lee.

The principles discussed in the class led to other benefits for Lee. Jumping out of airplanes in the Army, added to regular wear and tear, had led to Lee having both knees ‘scoped’ in the 90s. Now, the knees were getting worse and Lee was dreading what the next step would be.

But, now that Dr. Cianci was helping with his back, it was logical to see about his knees as well. “This knee (left) was literally giving out,’’ said Lee. “I thought, for sure, maybe a scope or a lot more was needed. I mentioned it to Dr. Cianci and he said ‘well, let’s work on it.’ It’s not pain-free but it’s 90 percent pain-free. I’m walking on it and I’m not thinking about a replacement at this point, that’s for sure.’’

Dr. Cianci offered this comment: “All of the post-graduate study I’ve done on the treatment of the post-surgical patients makes it very clear that no doubt, these cases need to be approached cautiously and you need to be selective on the patients you accept but great benefits can be achieved as long as you properly evaluate and screen the patient before initiating care.

It’s common for the public with histories similar to Lee’s to be apprehensive about investigating chiropractic care. Too often people assume ‘ I’m just getting older’ or ‘I’ve got degenerating discs’ or ‘I’ve been told it’s arthritis,’ but Lee has all of these conditions and had surgery decades ago and he’s benefited greatly from chiropractic care.

It’s all too common to avoid getting care or settle for a life of limitation when you don’t have to be that limited.”

The visits to Dr. Cianci have been a hit not only with Lee and Riley but with Elaine. ‘’I’m less grumpy,’’ Lee said with a laugh and exchanging a smile with his wife. “Literally, it’s more freedom, I can walk around and I can do things without first thinking, ‘Can I do it?’ It makes a big difference.”

Cianci Chiropractic, located at 8737 Brooks Drive in the Easton Industrial Park can help keep you on a healthy path.
Contact Cianci Chiropractic at 410-820-4070. You can also find Cianci Chiropractic online at www.drcianci.com.