SpineZone Sorrento Valley

Maria Luu

This is going to be a bit long so bear with me. Back in 2006 i lived in NJ, was in college, and worked part time at a clothing store. I got injured at work trying to lift a box and was in severe pain that left me crying and unable to straighten myself or move. I was sent to a workers comp doctor who told me that nothing was wrong and all i needed was a bit of physical therapy to help me get back to work. That most likely it was just a "back strain." Unfortunately my physical therapy sessions were anything but helpful. Instead they made my injury worse and considerably painful, leaving me feeling worse after each session instead of better. It wasn't until a 6 months later when we went to another doctor to get a second opinion that we found out i had a herniated disc with severe nerve compression. We also found out that because the physical therapists i went to for the work injury made me lift weights when i shouldn't have been that further aggravated my injury and pain and made me almost unable to walk. I spent a year and half after that trying to recover with little success. Due to what happened to me, i became traumatized and vowed to never ever step foot into another physical therapy building again. Fast forward 16 years later and my herniated disc has started acting up again. This time i had what felt like "shockwaves" going through my entire back. The pain was pretty bad and it left me concerned and upset. I went to my PCP at Scripps and he suggested Physical Therapy. Of course, hearing that, i became alarmed and was like "oh God, please no. I'm begging you." After 3 different calls from them, i realized that i had to do something, my back wasn't going to get any better on its own and i certainly couldn't avoid them forever. I relented and finally decided to give them a try, confident that i would not continue with them after my first visit. Originally i was a patient at the Del Mar location but the Sorrento Valley location opened very close to where i live and they moved me here. I was supposed to have someone named Kierra as my physical therapist and instead ended up with someone named Clarissa Sarabia. At first glance i was worried because when i saw Clarissa she looked pretty scary haha. She seemed like she would be tough and mean and as i am a timid person i was sure we wouldn't get along. Well i couldn't be more wrong. I absolutely LOVE and adore Clarissa so much! And although she looks pretty mean, she really isn't hahaha. She is very funny, smart, sweet, tough in a good way, and just a lovely person all around. I actually feel very lucky that i ended up with her as my therapist and would never change her for anyone else. She actually listens to every single complaint i have about my back and even helped fix two or three problems i was having. I had a burning sensation in my thoracic area and i don't know what she did but i no longer have pain there. Then i screwed something up in my right shoulder blade and she's been helping with that too. It was really painful and hard to breathe at times but she once again did something and fixed it. I cannot say this enough but i am so glad my Dr. recommended SpineZone to me and especially glad that i ended up at this location with the amazing Clarissa Sarabia. If you need any sort of spine therapy, please come see Clarissa, you will NOT regret it.