chiropractic, what's the deal?

[matt1162]

I used to compete in the "Iron Sports", weightlifting, powerlifting, and to a smaller degree bodybuilding. I worked out for about 18 years, nearly half my life. I've spent a good portion of my life throwing heavy weights around the gym. (the gym owner wasn't too happy, ). Anyway, my back would go through periods of moderate to severe pain. Orthopedic doctors simply told me I need to stretch my muscles more so I started stretching for 30 minutes a day. I got flexible but the back pain would eventually come back. There was no way I was going to have any type of surgery on my spine. There's too much risk. So, despite all of the nonscientific basis for chiropractic, I decided to try it. Of course the chiropractor found a "subluxation" which apparently is not recognized by modern medicine. So, I went into the chiropractor, my back was aching like mad. The pain was right in the tail bone area. He started at the base of my neck and started "popping" vertebrae all the way down my back. When he got to the painful area he had me change positions and popped my low back and right after he popped it I felt sudden RELIEF! Afterwards he had his assistant give me a sort of quick (5 minute) massage with something like mineral ice/Ben-Gay cream. I was pain free for 3 days then it came back. To make a long story short, I ended up going back to the chiropractor 3 times a week and eventually the pain went away.
I know people are skeptical of it but is there a chance that even if subluxations don't exist that chiropractors are onto something and we should maybe study it more? Maybe it's simply a fancy massage. It's possible that I just got temporary relief while my back healed on it's own. Whatever happened, I'm glad I went to this chiropractor (my old man calls them "chiroquackers").

[Anjele]

(26-10-2014 11:54 AM)matt1162 Wrote:  Maybe it's simply a fancy massage. It's possible that I just got temporary relief while my back healed on it's own.

You answered your own question.

[grizzlysnake]

You wouldn't risk back surgery but you'd risk someone "popping" vertebrae?
Read that a few times, go ahead think about that.

[matt1162]

(26-10-2014 12:15 PM)grizzlysnake Wrote:  You wouldn't risk back surgery but you'd risk someone "popping" vertebrae?
Read that a few times, go ahead think about that.

One man pushing lightly on your back is pretty low risk compared to being cut open and having a knife cut through nerves, bone, soft tissue between vertebrae, etc. Chiropractors have the lowest malpractice insurance costs of any type of physician. There's a reason for that. Now, read what you posted a few times and think about it.

[dancefortwo]

(26-10-2014 12:37 PM)matt1162 Wrote:  

(26-10-2014 12:15 PM)grizzlysnake Wrote:  You wouldn't risk back surgery but you'd risk someone "popping" vertebrae?
Read that a few times, go ahead think about that.

One man pushing lightly on your back is pretty low risk compared to being cut open and having a knife cut through nerves, bone, soft tissue between vertebrae, etc. Chiropractors have the lowest malpractice insurance costs of any type of physician. There's a reason for that. Now, read what you posted a few times and think about it.

Go get a good massage, it's the same thing without all the woo.

[Chas]

(26-10-2014 01:31 PM)dancefortwo Wrote:  

(26-10-2014 12:37 PM)matt1162 Wrote:  One man pushing lightly on your back is pretty low risk compared to being cut open and having a knife cut through nerves, bone, soft tissue between vertebrae, etc. Chiropractors have the lowest malpractice insurance costs of any type of physician. There's a reason for that. Now, read what you posted a few times and think about it.

Go get a good massage, it's the same thing without all the woo.

Nope. It's not.

I've had both, they're different.

[Chas]

I am a skeptic, and there is no evidence for many of the claims of chiropractic, nor of the mechanisms they say underlie problems.

So I was horrified when one of my brothers became a chiropractor.

I have had chronic lower back, neck, shoulder, and hip pain for many years due to sports injuries, car accidents, bicycle accidents. I figured that my brother was offering free chiropractic, so I'm thinking "Why not? Let's do the experiment."

Well, the spinal manipulation temporarily decreases, or even eliminates, some kinds of pain.

The rest of the claims? Probably nonsense.

[Full Circle]

My wife swears by her chiropractor and she's as skeptical as I am. She says the body manipulation helps her but she doesn't place any credence when the chiro says she's going to release the bad vapors, whatever the hell that means.

[dancefortwo]

(26-10-2014 02:01 PM)Chas Wrote:  

(26-10-2014 01:31 PM)dancefortwo Wrote:  Go get a good massage, it's the same thing without all the woo.

Nope. It's not.

I've had both, they're different.

Oh, that's true. But a good massage without woo is great. The other thing that helps pain is one of those isolation tanks. They put a ton of epsom salts in it which makes you float and it's good for muscle pain. This is another case where lots of woo is added to make it seem magical. Um, it's not magic, the epsom salts and floating simply relax the muscles. Nothing more.

[Anjele]

The chiropractor my one grandmother frequented assured her that all the snaps and pops she heard during his 'treatments' were normal. As was the discomfort.

I suppose the bone cancer that killed her would have been more successfully treated if she hadn't believed that the chiro could cure her.

Funny that after that and snapping a neighbors neck so that it caused her death, he packed up his family in the middle of the night and left the country. Bastard.