FORUMS > Alternative Treatments Forum Rules

Well, I came into this little dome hut to get some chiropractic work done on my neck. It has been hurting for ages - something like 7 or 8 years and I was like, "whatever, it'll go away." Recently, I decided, "meh," I might as well fix it.

So I went to this guy, and he was Jewish, and he was working on that recent holiday. I am not sure of what it was called, Rashashanda or something.

Anyways, they do all the stuff you would think they do like cracking your back. He did the neck-snap thing and I started laughing because of just how surreal it was. I was afraid though, he is kind of like the soup nazi for chiropractory apparently.

Anyways, it made me feel lighter and a little more awake. He says that your body gets "unbalanced" and that you need to rebalance by getting regular sessions. I don't know what to make of that. He probably just wants more customers. Anyway, moral of the story, he couldn't fix my neck, but he said after more sessions, the stress and intensity on my right side will even out.

I prefer... ummm I think it's called gentle traction chiropractic adjustments? It's almost a massage, with wedge shaped pillows placed to help readjust your spine into the shape it should be.

All that rice krispy stuff is scarey.

I go to my Chiro once a month and have been seeing him for the last 8 or 9 years. I look forward to my "rice crispy" session. lol. I recently started some lite yoga excerizes and that also seems to help as it stretches out the muscles and helps to relax the tension.

hhhmmmmm i think they are witch doctors, but that's just me. I've seen them do more damage than good. And you have to keep going back to them to "feel" better.

But us dancers have weird backs and things anyhow.

If you get a chiro that tells you he can cure cancer or something similar, run the other way very quickly. Chiropractors are great for certain things. The AMA's (American Medical Association) position is this: "Manipulation has been shown to have a reasonably good degree of efficacy in ameliorating back pain, headache, and similar musculoskeletal complaints."

"reasonably good"!

And heroin makes people feel pretty darn good too... til you stop taking it!

Rocco:

I don't think your comparison is apt.

just speaking from experience and what i hear from others.

The second you stop going to the witch doctor/chirpractor the pain come back with a vengance.

I had many sessions with one and can honestly say it done nothing for me. In fact I think I am worse now.

Also it is dangerous. Some of those guys have done some serious damage. Work on the neck is the most dangerous.

Be careful.

Mike

I injured my back in college and experienced some degree of back pain for several years. When it became too much to bear and two doctors said that my only option was surgery, I decided to try the witch doctor!(chiropractor) The guy I went to was really good and eliminated my pain after only four or five initial adjustments. Thereafter he recommended monthly maintenance appointments. If I failed to keep up with the maintenance appointments for more than two months, the pain returned. I went to Dr. Bill monthly for at least fifteen years, when the thoughtless SOB died, leaving me chiropractorless. I looked for a substitute chiropractor, and although I have tried ten to twelve others, no one can adjust me the way he did. I found a physical therapist who recommended a series of regular back exercises, and as long as I do them regularly, I'm fine. I'm not sure what all this says except: as in all walks of life, there are some good ones and some not so good. If you have confidence that this guy can fix your neck, go back for the additional sessions, if not, try someone else.

I just started seeing one for lower back pain. Chiropractic makes sense to me, in that the spine is a bunch of disconnected vertebre glued together by spongy gaskets -- so it's easy to knock stuff out of alignment to where the bony parts start to pinch the soft parts. HA! Or was that too technical?!

Yeah, the damn thing keeps a record of every fall and accident you ever had!! Ain't THAT a b?

Anyhoo, I think it's working. I always thought it was voodoo until I needed one. I'm told good chiropractors are great and bad ones can f you up.

The 'rice-crispy' neck treatment scared me 'cause I've seen all those ninja/splinter-cell type movies where people get killed like that -- ACK!

I am also with stripper rocco....they do more harm than good...its psuedo medicine..and they are dangerous because they go around calling themselves doctors and thinking they are...when in fact they arent even close...

I worked with neurosurgeons whose practice was based on fixing the damage done by chiropractors...and they had thriving practices as a result of the damage done...

I recently had the misfortune of knowing a chiropractor who was so bold with his belief that he was a real doctor that he gave out prescription drugs, including pain killlers to his patients...he gets the meds from his father who owns a pharmacy...i still hadnt decided whether to report him to the authorities...but it shows you how cavalier and misguided these so called "doctors" are!!!!!

From my experience...stay as far away from them as possible.

You should continue going to the chiropractor on a regular basis. I go once a week for lower back and neck adjustments and I honestly feel almost insant relief when he pops my neck! Athletes especially should visit the chiropractor regularly!

Yeah, its real great if you have a professional chiro. if you're rich, but otherwise, alternative "alternative treatment" might be better. My guy costs 40 dollars a session - kind of pricy for a once a week thing in my opinion.

I wouldn't consider them like voodoo-esque specialties. They just specialized in fine tuning of the bones and stuff. But yeah, if they don't know what they are doing, I'm sure they can mess you up.

I think it's bizarre there are still people out there that consider this a psuedomedicine...

Hello Ozymandias!

If you feel you need to keep going have at it! While you are at it why don't you also lay some quartz crystals and rose quartz along the spine to sooth and heal. You may also want to leave some Rum and beauty supplies at the grave of Marie LeVeau... just sayin.

I need my back to function correctly and in a certain manner so I will, personally, stay as far away as possible.

It is industry standard for insurance to cover chiropractic treatment. Do you really think they would, if there was any way at allthey could avoid to?
Especially in this world of rising insurance costs...

Perhaps instead of trying to be cute, you could provide references as to the inefficacy of chiropractic treatment...

Other than the two dancers I know personally who went to a chiropractor because of normal dance back and neck pain, and the "adjustments" they received over the span of two years did so much damage that it ended their career?

Eventually the company director told them to go directly to a sports medicine facility instead of the witch doctor, where all the damage was uncovered.

I understand that dance, athletics in general, can be very stressful on the spine, but again heroin get's rid of pain too!

Back pain is a fact of life for athletes and dancers, but there are far more effective, safe, and long term methods to releave the pain such as conditioning and yoga.

I guess it just depends on whether or not you are dilligent enough to work through the pain and over the long term have complete control of it , or you just want a quick fix.

PS There's also that creepy scene at the beginning of "Truth Or Dare" where Madonna is having her neck adjusted... and instead of the "snap crackle pop" the director dubbed the sound of Japan's thunder over her neck's sound. That was MORE than enough for me!

I've been getting chiro care for the past 5 years and it has helped. I've had issues with muscle spasms in my lower back and when that happens, my spine is totally out of alignment. the adjustments I now get are pretty minimal. I've never had anything done with my neck, and I think I probably stay away from that stuff.

For my back issues, I try to pay attention to what is going on there. If there is some tension in my lower back, then it's time for some heat and some good lower back stretching

As an aside... as you can tell from most of my other posts, i am pretty extreme. I don't mean to offend, and if things work for others thats great... like having a pet dog (see other thread).

I'm really not a big b!tch... just strongly opinionated. That's all.

and I'm done.

I have no arguement for hearsay.

oh well.
Guess that means you're right and chiropractic treatment are just a crazy hoax like the couple who who heard about the killer with the hook then drove home and found a hook attached to their bumper.

It's not a hoax. But the hook was attached to the door handle and the girl in the passenger seat had gone missing.

Get your facts right!

Chiropracters do earn a doctorate degree, and some are authorized to prescribe medication. The D.C degree requires a 4 year degree with science/pre-med focus just to be admitted and then includes another 4 years of a mix of standard medicine and chiropractic courses. All of this followed by testing for certification.

What I have uncovered in researching the field (I may be going back to school for a D.C.) indicates that a good Chiropractor uses modern diagnosis, works with other medical professionals, and takes a more holistic approach to medicine which can include addressing diet, exercise, stress reduction, etc. along with the now famous "crack yer bones" techniques.

I agree with some others here. Bad experiences may be more about the people than the profession. There are unskillful people in every profession - having a doctorate does not necessarily mean you are an awake, intuitive, precise, examining, etc. kind of person.

And, because insurance is ALL ABOUT MAKING MONEY, it's a good guess that mathmatical models have shown that going to the chiropractor reduces or at least has no effect on the amount of money an insurance company makes/loses per customer.

Chiropractors can offer great services. The problem, though, is that some only help realign the hard tissue structures (bones) without paying attention to the soft (muscles, tendons, ligaments). Soft tissue structures quickly adapt to the poorly aligned bone structures and become too long/short. The chiro puts the bones back in order, but over a short period of time, the soft tissues will pull them right back into the pre-adjusted position, requiring subsequent visits. It's basically like taking Tylenol P.M. to cover the symptoms of a cold. It doesn't fix the problem. However if a chiropractor is good, s/he will help you learn how to realign the structures of the body so you don't have to keep returning.

I spent hundreds of Euro on Chiropractic treatment and have nothing to show for it.

My parents have done the same an nothing to show for it. In fact my parents have seen more that one.

My sister sees one on a regular bases, and she thinks it is great, yet she is always complaining about her back. Believe me if she continues with it she will have a walking stick before she is 50.

I here people singing there praises all the time and the guy I went to is considered one of the best. But I don't see it.

When he cracks your bones is seems to get some kind of pleasure out of it. That is not a joke. I did think he got pleasure out of cracking my bones.

Even if you are getting some kind of relief out of it, if you have to keep going back then he or she is not fixing the problem and if you have to go back every week there is something seriously wrong with that.

SDtriner makes a good point.

Mike

Since I've got a hypermobilty disorder (bones don't tend to stay where they should) I tend to have things go out of whack, pinch nerves, etc. Because of that, I do need to go to a chiropractor and have been since I was in my teens. I need to go less now, and I'm the one who decides when to go (I don't have a "see you next week" relationship with my chiropractor.)

That said, Swogdog is right that DC's get most of the same training as MD's do, and the two chiropractors that I've worked with have both been collaborative and very much interested in working in line with other medical professionals. I've usually noticed that the "non-alternative" medical professionals are the one's the poo-poo it more, and it's usually when they have no idea what's going on.

I'm a big proponent of the crack-crack type of chiropractor, as I've found that whenever I've met with a soft-touch guy, I'm usually back to where I was two hours after the appointment.

My first chiropractor had a great sign on the wall

"If you problem is not a chiropractic problem, chiropractic will not help you. If you problem is a chiropractic problem, nothing else will help you."

Has anyone heard of rolfing?

http://www.rolf.org/about/index.htm

Yep, gone through the 10 sessions many years ago. Supposedly it's painful, but I have such a high pain threshold (see not about pinching nerves above) that it wasn't too bad for me. Again, good for some people, especially if you have particular, deep tightness.

I get Rolfed every three weeks. Tomorrow is my next appointment.

I am thinking to get it done. Just wondering if it worked or if it is worth it. I am very out of line.

Mike

Several years ago, I was in a car accident (drunk driver hit me). At first, I could feel nothing from the waist down, nor could I make my legs move. I was placed on a back board and, with a cervical collar in place, was taken to the local ER. After hours of waiting, they finally sent me to x-ray then brought me back to the trauma room. After many more hours, a doctor finally came in and said he could find nothing wrong and I should take tylenol if it started hurting. I should also follow up with a neuro-surgeon he was recommending. A few hours later, I was in extreme pain, which got worse by morning... to the point of not being able to walk.

I went to a chiropractor who is the reason I was able to walk out of that first appointment with much less pain. She got me realigned with a few follow-up visits and the pain went completely away. I've had no related problems since.

Chiropractic medicine is like anything else... there are practitioners that know what they are doing and can help in ways no one else can. There are also practitioners that are real quacks and do more harm than good. You have to check references, check the state licensing board for previous disciplinary action/complaints, etc, in order to wisely choose the chiropractor you're going to trust with your spine.

I used to go to a chiropractor once a month then once every few months, but since going to the gym and working on strengthening the muscles that support my head and body I havent needed it anymore. The pain in my neck, from an auto accident in college, is gone!! I also do yoga 3 times a week. I use the money I save for a great massage now and then-no happy ending- a real one.

Not jewish here but surprised you didn't get heat from that comment? "Anyways"

Chiropractors Rock!

I've been seeing my chiropractor for about 10 years now, typically only need to go in once or twice amonth for an adjustment forlower back and neck pain ( i have to stoop over alot at work )

Before trying chiropractic I went to a regular physician whose only fix was a perscription for strong motrin.

I'll take the occasional neck/back snap over downing pills everyday Thank ya very much

I'm about to graduate as a doctor of chiropractic in December. Unfortunately, there are good and bad doctors everywhere, chiropractors included. Our field is particularly susceptible due to the fact that there are no public chiropractic colleges, and interest in becoming a chiropractor isn't exactly booming. Therefore, in order to make money, most of the private colleges have to accept pretty much any person who has met the minimum prerequisites (which happen to be the same for medical and dentistry schools). So, because most people have no idea what it is we do or what kind of training we receive, we really get a lot of sub-par students.

I have my Bachelor's degrees in genetics and biochemistry from University of Wisconsin at Madison. I did research for 3 years, and decided it wasn't for me. I graduated with a 3.4, which would have been extremely difficult to parlay into an MD, but had chiropractic suggested to me by my genetics advisor because of the help she had gotten from hers.

I was extremely skeptical about the field of chiropractic, but ... the more I looked into it, the more research I uncovered that lended credibility to the profession. I decided upon a school that has a reputation for being evidence-based, but not wanna-be medical doctors. I have no problem with medical doctors, but our approaches are very different, and should be respected as such.

There are schools that are not like mine and profess to be superior to medicine and cure all diseases. This is obviously not a scientifically-founded stance to have, and we as a profession are shifting more and more away from that way of thinking. Conversely, we have schools that attempt to be as much like medical doctors as possible, which I think is equally flawed. We should examine a patient as a whole and go after the cause, not the symptom.

Without going to far into it, have there been some bad effects from chiropractic when used irresponsibly? Yes. Usually, those unfortunate events result in a very mild sprain/strain, which can be easily ameliorated by icing. At it's worst, it can can cause a fractured rib if, say, a forceful thrust is made on a person's thoracic spine and they have osteoporosis.

I have never, ever heard of anyone fracturing someone's neck, and I'm in a school with about 100 students adjusting patients. I'm pretty sure if it was even remotely likely, someone in my school would have done it by now. I would have to put in about 100 times more force in my neck adjustment to even THINK about fracturing anything.

If anyone has any questions about chiropractic ... who we are ... what we do ... if you've had a bad experience and want to know what happened, or are unfamiliar or curious, please feel free to message me. I would be more than happy to talk to anyone about it.

I've had positive experiences with chiropractors. It's been years since I've had an adjustment. The process of learning how to do them isn't the bulk of a chiropractor's training. At least that's what I was told by a buddy of mine whom I used to know and is still a chiropractor to this day.

The people on this thread that are whining about how worthless they believe chiropractors to be are just being bitches. Oh and hey let's go through all the trouble of mentioning some tired ass lame movie that dear ol' Madge did to reference why we don't like chiropractors. "Oh Madge..you can't sing for shit and watching you act is almost as exciting as wiping my ass but god I wanna be you, I mean! I love you!"

Hey if Madge doesn't approve, neither do I!!

Disclaimer:
I'm really not a big bitch. I simply like to hurl insults and castrate people's accomplishments/beliefs/viewpoints that I don't approve of. Don't take it as an outlandish expression of total utter disrespect. I'm simply a very opinionated guy. I....

Ooooh!! Wait!! Madge song is playing on the radio!! Gotta go practice my stripping! Madge music is great for perfecting my lap dance moves!! Damn! I'm so wonderful....

I surprised nobody mentioned that orthopods (DOs) practice spinal manipulation also and it is part of their training. DOs Doctors of Orthopedic Medicine have all the same training as MDs but they also believe that you treat the person as a whole an not just the symptom. Surprisingly today the MD schools at least in this country have taken some good things from the DO programs, Like actually teaching something about bedside manner and talking with the patient and listening to the patient. One of the MAIN reasons I use DOs is their overall attitude towards the patient's part in their own recovery. BTW DOs will do most of the same spinal manipulations as a chiropractor but wont be asking you to come back for weekly or monthly treatments. There are also chiropractors that think they can cure a whole range of medical ailments through realignment of the spine, They scare me personally. Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine just want to get you back where you should be and not milk you for money. By the way My background is Emergency Medicine and Hospital Administration. As a professor at U of D I taught Medical Ethics. So if you want to take exception with me be my guest. 38 years in health care and the top of my profession I probably have more stories than you. Ive also been called to Chiropractors offices as a Paramedic and Im offended when they misdiagnose and sometimes do more injury than good. AMW