I would like to comment on the massage therapy and chiro discussion. I should say I’ve never needed a chiro and so never visited one. Like everyone I’ve heard stories from people I know that convinces me they can provide at least temporarly relief with their skeletal alignment techniques.

I’m 46 and I have regularly exercised (about 4 times a week now, 40 minute running sessions usually) through most my forties. In the few times I’ve stopped exercising I notice after about a week and a half or two as atrophy starts to have it’s affect I get bad back aches when sitting for long periods. Of course with my regular running I have some other joint soreness. But it seems like the vigorous activity helps to align my body naturally or at least that’s my working theory with the absence of any contrary evidence. Sometimes at the beginning of a run or on an elliptical my hip will pop about 5 minutes into the workout and it feels great. I also notice head colds are infrequent and not as severe.

So to me that makes sense that aligning the skeleton either thru exercise or manually like a chiro could be helpful to relieve discomfort but only temporarily as I have to keep exercising or I lose the benefit. And if you CAN’T exercise and the problem can’t be fixed by surgery then chiros serve a good purpose.