Chiropractic

sass_my_frass

I have always suspected that chiropractic is a total crock. The concept that having your backbone crackled a little bit every month will control your blood pressure, cure your asthma and keep you mobile and flu-free until you're 120 seems farfetched, and yet all my life every time I have had a headache I have been inclined to set up an appointment.
I've really only been in serious pain three times; some bad neck pain which cleared up after a depressing relationship, some lumbar pain from a bad lift incident which cleared up after three weeks of wiggling around on a fitball while I was watching tv in the evening, and some weird shoulder pain which cleared up when I rejoined a gym. I have wasted a lot of money for many years - chiropractic just wasn't there for me. Fortunately it was mostly my health funds money...

I've been in Canberra for a year and had to find a new guy so I made an appointment. They have one hell of an operation - he and the receptionist double-team new patients and he announces that he will treat you like it's an unusual privilege extended only to needy friends, but only on the assumption that you'll be there twice a week. I started, but invented an interstate work trip to get out of three appointments and left the waiting room just before one started because they were running 20 minutes late. I think that after a lifetime of chiropractic my xrays should be looking different to what they were when I was twelve and if they're not, it's probably always going to be that way. To be honest I'm not actually feeling in anyway bad, so I wanted to cut back my treatment to say, every month or two.

This morning he fired me. We talked it over for a while and he decided that if I wasn't happy with the treatment schedule he could recommend somebody else to me. I called his bluff on that though, and he didn't actually know any names, just waved in the direction of one. Everybody in his office looks broke; it makes me sad that he is skimming all these pensioners. I won't miss him; three-minute treatments for $40, and he barely touched me. He used a little flicker pen on my shoulder, genuinely believing in it.

Just today I've taken up believing that chiropractic is for the special kind of person who needs to be told by a professional to sit up straight. I have friends who have real, actual spinal trouble; scoliosis, fusions (natural and surgical)... none of them have a chiropractor and never will. All of my minor health problems would be solved if I exercised every day, stretched at work, stopped playing computer games until 3 am and lost 15 kg.

Who is a believer? I think I might put it in the same cult category as I put Amway and the defence forces.

momzcrazy

I think it can help minor problems, like headaches, even sinus problems. I have gone to one since I was a child. My dad went to the same one. After some time he had to be treated by an MD and have surgery. i am now at the point where I also need an MD. We both have/had degenerative disk disease and my lower spine is inverted. I also have bone spurs in my neck. I am going to my MD this month.

momz

zeroday

I use to go to chiropractors for years had not been to one for over 20 years...about 2 years ago I back was hurting so much I decided to go in just for the back crack and massage...he put me on a chiropractic roller bed for 15 minutes first then did the cracking etc...when I got off the roller bed I thought I could just float out of the office...I made another appointment for the next week then got on the internet for "chiropractic roller beds" I found a company in Chicago that would sell me one and I bought it ($1980 delivered) never went back to the quack...funny you should start this topic as I just got off my roller bed 15 minutes ago and feel great...

Odrade

Depends on the chiropractor. Any chiro who tries to set you up on an extended "contract" is a crook. A good chiro will not make outrageous claims about "curing all your ailments with spinal adjustment."

I'm a huge believer AND a huge skeptic. I will not see a chiro who tells me I have to come in multiple times a week for months on end, especially if he hasn't examined me yet. I use chiropractic, occasionally, as needed for migraines (I have a rotated atlas- top vertebra, it's clearly abnormal on xray, even without anyone pointing it out. Makes the cranial foramen magnum look like a lopsided ellipse instead of a near circle.) It works for me, but I do NOT have to go all the time, just when I feel certain symptoms, and can palpate a knot in one area on my neck.

I also have clients who occasionally see chiropractors. Sometimes I send them for an adjustment because things feel "wrong" and they are having a spasm in the area. Usually one or two adjustments corrects it. I also have clients who have gone for adjustments every week for years. They are in really bad shape, I believe because of the over-treatment.

So very mixed feelings. If your gut tells you the chiro you are seeing is a crook, run away. Anyways, he fired you because you couldn't be sold oceanfront property in Arizona. Good for you.

tula

three-minute treatments for $40, and he barely touched me. He used a little flicker pen on my shoulder, genuinely believing in it.

Do you know my old chiro....or could it be they are ALL like this?????

I had a serious injury last year with my back. I wouldn't dare go to chiro. I have been before and they never helped me...I mean I never felt any different or any better after a treatment.

I think that after a lifetime of chiropractic my xrays should be looking different to what they were when I was twelve and if they're not, it's probably always going to be that way.

How many times do you have to go before you realize they aren't doing anything to improve it? Same thing with me. Never seemed to make any difference.

After my accident ("slip and fall") ha. Dept. store left coathangers on floor and I skiied!

I was laying on the sofa eating pain killers and hurting so bad I contemplated laying in the road!

Anyway, I was very fortunate to find an excellent neuromuscular therapist.

It has taken months to get better and I am still going for treatments, only not as often now. (due to no insurance and store would not take any responsibility to help and lawyer wanted me to go to specific chiro.) Lawyer said "you have to go to chiro I am affiliated (partnered)with" {crooks together sort of thing.. they are an organized RACKET. Trumped up charges and if you don't go 3x week for the duration, you get no recovery$$$} $crew that! I just wanted to feel better. I wanted my life back. I didn't care about their money games.

I also went for rolfing. I could not stand up from a squat position before I went for the rolfing treatments. Now I can hop like a frog!!!!! (well, kinda. To me it is, because I don't have to crawl or drag myself over to something and hang onto something to pull myself up anymore.)

Bumble Bee

I'll never go to a chiropractor again. I had back problems, and went to a chiropractor for help and it took me about three months of going 2-3 times a week before I could walk a block without pain. I started to do exercises to strenghten the muscles and the next time I felt the problem coming on again, went to see a massage therapist. Before I went in to see her, I couldn't bend to put on my own socks and shoes, hubby had to do it for me. After an hour and a half with the massage therapist I could do it myself on the way out. I try and be careful with my back, I can feel it when I slack off on my exercises and visit my massage therapist as needed.

I worked across the hall from a woman who's father in law suffered a stroke after an adjustment from a chiropractor.

Here are a few links to look at in regards to this -

http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/chirostroke.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2002/02/06/neck_chiropractic020206.html

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1024898605435_20307805 - this article interviews Les Limage, the father in law of the woman I worked across from.

BB

beksbks

I absolutely believe the practice is a good one. I've had too much relief not to. I certainly don't think they can fix everything some claim. I too have been to some real shysters. But I've also been to medical doctors with the same cattle driver mentality that did me absolutely no good. I think they are just like any other doctor, dentist, or car repair guy. Find an honest caring one, and you're very fortunate indeed.

freydi

When nerves can't function properly because of mis-alignment that causes constriction, the things they connect to aren't going to work the way they should. Coupled with good nutrition, it gives the body the best fighting chance to heal itself, imho, without resorting to the high-price alternatives of cut, burn and poison, that offer no guarantees and but often come with major unwanted side effects, and that in addition to a major drain on resources also requires homage be given to the practitioners who wear replicas of snakes on their collars, and who at least half the time don't know and don't care about what they're doing, as long as they get paid.

Mulan

I'm a huge believer AND a huge skeptic. I will not see a chiro who tells me I have to come in multiple times a week for months on end, especially if he hasn't examined me yet.

Me too. I absolutely believe in chiropractic and have lived the benefits for my entire life. My father was a chiropractor for years before he went back to school and became a Naturopathic Physician.

The chiropractor we go to, knows my past and treats me fairly. He never tries to get me on an extended treatment program, and tells me "you know when to come, so I'll see you then".

I had a back injury when I was 5 years old that has plagued me my whole adult life. I need treatments from time to time, to correct or try to correct what is happening. I get terrible sciatic nerve pain and I could take pain pills, but I would rather get relief a more natural way.

Country Girl

Both my chiropractors (the good ones) died. =(

I've had a hell of a time finding one I like. I absolutely love the benefits of chiropracty. I feel like a new person when I come out! I avoid the ones that want to put you on a long term thing, coming in twice a week, x-rays, etc. Prefer the old-timer ones that have a long practice and lots of happy customers.

CG

Chiropractic

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