Opinions on chiropractors.

duckilama wrote:

@demonbox, your counter is nothing like my quote.
A Dr. Recommending regular checkups, every year, is a far cry from the junkie-like behavior I've seen from friends and family that feel good for a day, maybe 2, after an adjustment, then start jonesing until they can get back to the chiropractor to relieve the pain a few days later, ad infinitum.

My experience, my opinion, but I don't see the parallel.

All you said was "another visit" not "another visit a day or two later." You can't criticize someone for a counter being nothing like your quote when your quote hardly describes your experience.

obirano wrote:

I've been having issues with my back for a few months now. It really only affects me when I sleep as the pain mostly ends up in my ankle by the time I wake up. It's gotten better and sometimes worse, at one point it was painful to lay down even for a few minutes. Understandably, I am getting desperate for a full night of sleep and also not waking up in pain.

This may be a dumb question, but what's your mattress like?

Sonicator wrote:
obirano wrote:

I've been having issues with my back for a few months now. It really only affects me when I sleep as the pain mostly ends up in my ankle by the time I wake up. It's gotten better and sometimes worse, at one point it was painful to lay down even for a few minutes. Understandably, I am getting desperate for a full night of sleep and also not waking up in pain.

This may be a dumb question, but what's your mattress like?

The only thing dumb about that question is the rest of us for not asking it earlier. Good call.

My experience was similar to others. I suffered from cripplingly severe scoliosis in my early 20s. The treatment that coincided with it getting better was regular chiropractic treatments - adjustments, massage, and an exercise regime to follow at home. It got me from "could barely walk" to perfectly ok again as far as I can tell.

Yes, chiropractic makes a lot of crazy claims. There's also a hell of a lot of good and bad out there. In Australia in the 90s when I had it it was at least regulated and accredited. That's definitely not the case in the UK at present. Not sure what the situation in like elsewhere.

As far as the mattress goes, it is a soft pillow top. Both the general and chiro suggested changing that up. I've been sleeping in the spare bedroom which has a former mattress and it seems to help. Though, lately my wife tries to stay in there as well and ends up crowding me back into our bedroom.

Dragonfly wrote:

[Edited to remove novella]

For what it's worth I appreciated reading the full version. Thank you for sharing.

Rezzy wrote:
Dragonfly wrote:

[Edited to remove novella]

For what it's worth I appreciated reading the full version. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks. ^_^ I didn't want to jack the thread with my quacktales, and I became doubtful that it would be helpful to obirano's topic.

@CheesePavillion I said the person *needed* to go back, not the practitioner *told* them to come back. My version was a far cry from a doctor's typical "i'd like to see you again in 12 months for your annual checkup" comment.

Dragonfly wrote:
Rezzy wrote:
Dragonfly wrote:

[Edited to remove novella]

For what it's worth I appreciated reading the full version. Thank you for sharing.

Thanks. ^_^ I didn't want to jack the thread with my quacktales, and I became doubtful that it would be helpful to obirano's topic.

I'd like to say that I enjoyed it as well.

obirano wrote:

As far as the mattress goes, it is a soft pillow top. Both the general and chiro suggested changing that up. I've been sleeping in the spare bedroom which has a former mattress and it seems to help. Though, lately my wife tries to stay in there as well and ends up crowding me back into our bedroom.

Robear sustained a bad back injury in college while playing in the snow. They had a pileup with Ro on the bottom and someone's knee in his SI joint. We sleep on a platform bed with a futon and memory foam topper for mattresses. Great support and very comfy without being soft and squishy. If you can tolerate it, go shopping and see what is comfy to you.

Also, the therapist in me would recommend considering your sleeping position. What could be happening is that your sleeping position is causing pressure on nerve roots as they come out of the spinal column or causing piriformis spasms which can cause sciatic pain.
A good Physical Therapist will assess this for you. I cannot comment on wheither or not a chiropractor will. Nor can I stress strongly enough to you how important it is to have body mechanic training and stregthening exercises.

This link has some examples of good body mechanics. Hope it helps!

http://www.backcarebootcamp.com/cont...

I was in a bad car accident about a decade back, and had extreme chest and back pain. I went to a chiropractor that my sister recommended, though I was skeptical. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the chiropractic visits quickly nipped the bulk of that pain in the bud.

I will boldly, clearly confess that over a period of six or seven years, I was completely quacked. As a result, I think chiropractic can help back pain, as can a good medical massage, but both should be secondary to physical therapy with actual doctors. If you go to a chiropractor that claims everyone, including babies and children, should be given back manipulations for "subluxations", take that as a sign and keep looking elsewhere. If you can find a chiropractor that doesn't buy into the crystals, incense, and miracle cures, they may be worth checking out.

[Edited to remove novella. The full story is accounted Here.]

There are some horrible chiropractors. There are some horrible MDs. Also, a lot of people of all walks of life are horrible (not all, but a number to be sure).

I don't think that any one or dozen bad chiropractors making claims should be stated as representative as all chiropractors.

duckilama wrote:

@demonbox, your counter is nothing like my quote.
A Dr. Recommending regular checkups, every year, is a far cry from the junkie-like behavior I've seen from friends and family that feel good for a day, maybe 2, after an adjustment, then start jonesing until they can get back to the chiropractor to relieve the pain a few days later, ad infinitum.

My experience, my opinion, but I don't see the parallel.

I honestly am not sure how you're friends behavior relates to chiropractic treatment or chiropractors-- is the suggestion simply that it's addictive. Honestly not sure, not attempting to play dumb.

Also, to be clear, not a chiropractor but not close to objective on the issue. I don't think that everyone has to like it, that it works on everyone, that every chiropractor is worth his/her weight in salt, or anything like that-- just subjective about the potential within effective chiropractic treatment.

Kiri wrote:

This link has some examples of good body mechanics. Hope it helps!

http://www.backcarebootcamp.com/cont...

Thanks. Added that to read this afternoon.

"Real" doctor chiming in. "Real" because apparently, since I live in a Third World country, my education and practice counts for sh*t.

Doctors are advisers. You pay us for advice on what to do. How you take that and what you do with it is strictly your call. One of the issues with this is that, although MD science and practice is one of the most codified and standardized in professional practice, actual medical practice is not standardized whatsoever. One MD will prescribe something another will contradict, and they both presumably are acting based on the same training.

What you want to know is data, outcomes, risks, treatment plans, and the like. His personal opinion is worth something, but not as much as the data he can direct your way. Think of him as your personal Medical Search Engine - like Google and PubMed, but with a translator for normal English.

If the MD is not forthcoming about where he's getting his opinion, and doesn't encourage you to search out data on your own, then you need to look twice at his practice and credentials. A good MD stands confidently on the quality of his science.

All that said, back pain is complicated, multifactorial, and generally frustrating work. The science on it has always struck me as being extremely sketchy and more than a little profit-driven. TL, DR: Rely on the science, not on the person, nor the titles nor credentials he's holding.

Late to this thread, but I definitely have an opinion. Of course, Lobster beat me to it:

LobsterMobster wrote:

There are two kinds of chiropractors. The kind that offers you help with your back, and the kind that offers to cure everything you've ever had wrong with you ever. Never trust the second kind, not even to treat your back.

20 years ago, I was T-boned at an intersection by a truck that ran the red light. He plowed directly into the driver's side doors, compressing my seat to about 18" wide, with my poor pelvis sandwiched inside of it. They had to tear/cut the door loose to get me out.

Among other injuries, I had a badly pinched sciatic nerve following this experience. I saw an orthopedic doc, who gave me an anti-inflammatory drug that gave me an ulcer (fun!), steroid injections (fun! fun!) and exercises. Nothing helped. I had constant severe pain shooting down my leg to my knee and ankle, and my foot was numb/tingly a lot of the time.

Finally my boss at the time suggested that I try her chiropractor. I was skeptical, saw chiros as charlatans, but I would have tried anything for pain relief at that point, so I went. The relief was immediate, if not complete, and over time the symptoms went away altogether for long stretches of time. Unfortunately, the pain still flares up from time to time - I think once you have a back injury, your days of gaily lifting heavy things without careful planning are over. I can go 6 months or more between chiro visits now, though.

We've moved across the country a few times, and so I've had to find new chiros to have on hand in case of reinjury or flare-ups. Lobster's assessment is spot-on. If you talk to a chiro who says chiropractic can cure everything, run like hell. The good ones want to get you well and not see you in there all the time. The bad ones want to part you from your money.

To keep a fairly short story shorter: I went to physio/massage therapy for years before checking out a chiro. I went a few times, and haven't had to go back in two or three months. If I had time, I'd go more regularly to keep things where they should be, but it hasn't been in the cards. Before chiro, I'd need massage at least once a month and my back would never quite feel right (limited movement in my neck, primarily). My wife also goes, and has had a similar turn around.

Our chiro is actually one of those guys that thinks he can have an effect on all sorts of stuff. Says that the origin of a lot of problems can be found in the spine. My wife says that the treatments did help something odd, though I can't remember what. I thought it sounded ridiculous at the time, but she insists. You never know. Our one year old also goes on occasion. It's helped constipation for one thing.

Basically, give it a shot and if it works, great. If it doesn't, and you think the guy knows what he's doing, then try something else. The bed suggestion was probably a good place to start.

Thank you all for your opinions. I went ahead and went to this chiro to check it out and took some X-rays. Bulging disc and he was recommending a treatment plan of adjustments, physical therapy, and decompression treatment that totaled around 4 grand. Not thrilled, (as my insurance doesn't cover chiropractic) but went and tried it once. The decompression therapy seems to help a bit, don't know if it would long term. I was looking at it online and found that it is also used by normal doctors. Have an appointment set up and will talk to him about it as I'd rather use my insurance of possible for the same treatment (minus the adjustments, but I can go in for that).

Thanks for posting a response, feel free to keep posting as it continues; I think it could provide an interesting perspective.

Yeah, the best thing for back pain is a natural treatment for autism. Chode.