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Fun with a Chiropractor

SRW

Master Poster
SRW
Joined
Jul 25, 2001
Messages
2,903
Ok I look pitiful. I am wearing a neck brace.

The reason? I recently underwent surgery to repair severely damaged vertebra.

So I am leaving the bank and this guy runs up to me and says:

"You should not be wearing that thing, you should come to me instead.
I''ll give you an adjustment and your pain with go away".

I let him have it with as much vermin as I could muster in such a public venue, He stood there like a deer in the headlights for a least a minute--- I did toss a Fbomb but only as he was rushing off...

It felt good. I had a really bad experience with a chiropractor years ago, and believe I would not be in the condition I am in; if I had gone to a real doctor and not a chiropractor.

I cannot tell anybody this at work, because it seems, most everyone here goes to one on a regular basis. And they no longer do the back whacking procedures of old,---so I am told -- but now adjust your back with a little tiny hammer, so you can hardly even tell anything is happening. (Hummmm If a placebo drops in an office can anyone feel it?)

I am sure I went way passed skeptic and into the world of a cynic :rolleyes:. Would you have done the same? What if Sylvia Browne hobbled up to you and tried to get you go come in for a sitting because your aura looked funky?
 
SRW,

I don't know where you are from, but is it normal for someone to approach others when they look like they are under repair, to simply offer their advise?, without so much as asking what happened first? Are you only telling us part of the story?

Jeff,

Can you imagine the bad rub one might get if it was from a Catholic priest who moonlighted in chiropractic? :)
 
Iamme said:
SRW,

I don't know where you are from, but is it normal for someone to approach others when they look like they are under repair, to simply offer their advise?, without so much as asking what happened first? Are you only telling us part of the story?

Jeff,

Can you imagine the bad rub one might get if it was from a Catholic priest who moonlighted in chiropractic? :)
Click to expand...

I work near Santa Cruz Ca, and yes it is normal for people to offer medical advice. Unfortunately most of the time it is form co-workers. just smile and say little of nothing.

In the mile drive from the freeway to my office there are no less then 4 chiropractor offices, and one psychic healer.
 
Phelps,
It could be worse. A snake handling Baptist providing Therapeutic Touch. Or a Republican in an airport mens room.
 
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I've noticed a definite distrust of chiropractors on this site.
This thread being but the most recent instance.

Thus, having had good experiences with a chriopractor myself, I have started to look into the threads about them on this site.

I must say, it is eye-opening.
Appearently, I'm lucky to have stumbled (via athletic/sport connections) onto a good chiro, who is more concerned with relieving temporarily whatever pains may arise from the abuse to my and my connections bodies through sports.

There have been a few instances where something was most decidedly out of whack, and this fellow snapped/cracked/popped it back into place and the pain was gone.

But some of what I've read, and some other chiros I've been to who wanted to set up long-term treatment plans, with heat-detectors and stress tests and all this other wierdness, makes chiros seem like kooks.

Perhaps I'm lucky, or perhaps my chiro simply doesn't try that stuff with people coming to him through sports.

Either way, it sounds like you gave that person quite the shock. Most peddlers of woo don't expect to be called on it. So good on you for demanding answerability.
 
I must say that I am somewhat surprized at threads like this, too. My mother goes to a chiropractor and has for all of my life. Shortly after my birth she was in an automobile accident and several of her vertebrae were broken. She has had pain and problems for these past decades but, honestly, the chiropractor has helped her. She is nearly 70 and still able to get around fairly well and her discomfort always is reduced drastically after each appointment for about a month or so.
I DO NOT endorse chiropractors in general, but it does seem that there are ones who do some genuine good. But I can only go by my mother's experience.
 
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Minarvia said:
I must say that I am somewhat surprized at threads like this, too. My mother goes to a chiropractor and has for all of my life. Shortly after my birth she was in an automobile accident and several of her vertebrae were broken. She has had pain and problems for these past decades but, honestly, the chiropractor has helped her. She is nearly 70 and still able to get around fairly well and her discomfort always is reduced drastically after each appointment for about a month or so.
I DO NOT endorse chiropractors in general, but it does seem that there are ones who do some genuine good. But I can only go by my mother's experience.
Click to expand...

A few observations about chiropractors from my experience:

First: They tend to spend more time with their patients and are more hands on. My guess is this tends to make one feel better about the experience. Does it help relieve pain? Most of our pain goes away after a while... so if you are having a good experience and your pain is diminishing... My pain got worse. Nothing a chiropractor could have done would have helped.

Second: He worked closely with my lawyer, and even though I was not getting better the two of them decided it was time to settle. He told me I would never get better but I should take the settlement the insurance was offering and be done with it. (except I should still come in at my own expense for adjustments).

Third: and most hideous, he wanted to a. treat me for my asthma. b. Start doing adjustments on my family. My kids at the time were 8, 7 and 4 years old.
 
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SRW said:
A couple of observations about chiropractors from my experience:

First: They tend to spend more time with their patients and are more hands on. My guess is this tends to make one feel better about the experience. Does it help relieve pain? Most of our pain goes away after a while... so if you are having a good experience and your pain is diminishing... My pain got worse. Nothing a chiropractor could have done would have helped.

Second: He worked closely with my lawyer, and even though I was not getting better the two of them decided it was time to settle. He told me I would never get better but I should take the settlement the insurance was offering and be done with it. (except I should still come in at my own expense for adjustments).

Third: and most hideous, he wanted to a. treat me for my asthma. b. Start doing adjustments on my family. My kids at the time were 8, 7 and 4 years old.
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All that is quite disturbing, especially the part about wanting to adjust your kids. Why ever do that? THAT is the sort of thing that would indeed make me run screaming from that person. I wonder how he justifies treating people who don't need treatment, especially children? :confused:

I have had some minor problems (who hasn't?) and when my mother said I should go to her chiropractor I refuse. So far regular temporary meds and excercises have taken care of my problems after a little while.
As for my mother, she has broken vertebrae and at times when she couldn't see him her nerves got so pinched that even her General Practioner told her to return to the chiropractor. So I guess that in certain cases it can be beneficial, but no way would I ever say that most people should go to one. I'm just happy that my mom is all right after all these years.
 
Minarvia said:
---snip----
As for my mother, she has broken vertebrae and at times when she couldn't see him her nerves got so pinched that even her General Practioner told her to return to the chiropractor. So I guess that in certain cases it can be beneficial, but no way would I ever say that most people should go to one. I'm just happy that my mom is all right after all these years.
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I am glad you mom is doing well, and that is exactly why I never say anything to my co-workers. If it is in anyway helping---I would feel really bad taking that away from them. However if anyone asks why I do not want to go to one, I would tell it like it is. So far no one has asked. :(
 
SRW said:
Ok I look pitiful. I am wearing a neck brace.

The reason? I recently underwent surgery to repair severely damaged vertebra.

-snip-

I had a really bad experience with a chiropractor years ago, and believe I would not be in the condition I am in; if I had gone to a real doctor and not a chiropractor.
Click to expand...


SRW, I hope that your surgery has been successful. Regards your bad experience, you and others may be interested in this:

How Chiropractic Damages Your Ligaments
http://www.rebuildyourback.com/chiropractic/ligaments.php


SRW said:
And they no longer do the back whacking procedures of old,---so I am told -- but now adjust your back with a little tiny hammer, so you can hardly even tell anything is happening.
Click to expand...


They’re using a highly dubious instrument called an ‘Activator’:
http://www.chirobase.org/06DD/activator.html


Minarvia said:
All that is quite disturbing, especially the part about wanting to adjust your kids. Why ever do that?
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Practice building tactic$
http://www.chirobase.org/09Links/pb.html


Minarvia said:
THAT is the sort of thing that would indeed make me run screaming from that person. I wonder how he justifies treating people who don't need treatment, especially children? :confused:
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I’d like to know that too in view of the fact there’s next to no safety data available on paediatric spinal manipulation:

Adverse events associated with chiropractic care of children.

A systematic review has identified 34 cases in which spinal manipulation in children was associated with adverse events. [Vohra S. Adverse events associated with pediatric spinal manipulation: A systematic review. Pediatrics 119(1) January 2007, pp. e275-e283]
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/peds.2006-1392v1

Fourteen of the cases involved "direct" events in which the treatment was followed by death, serious injury, symptoms requiring medical attention, or soreness. The rest involved "indirect" events in which appropriate diagnosis was delayed and/or inappropriate manipulation was done for serious medical conditions such as meningitis. The reviewers commented that despite the fact that spinal manipulation is widely used on children, pediatric safety data are virtually nonexistent.

This type of review cannot determine how often adverse events occur. That would require a prospective study with active surveillance.

The article did not consider harmful aspects of chiropractic care that are far more common than the reported events. These include (a) decreased use of immunization due to misinformation given to parents, (b) psychologic harm related to unnecessary treatment, (c) psychologic harm caused by exposure to false chiropractic beliefs about "subluxations," and (d) financial harm due to unnecessary treatment.

http://www.ncahf.org/digest07/07-14.html
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[My bold]


...and the frequency of complications following spinal manipulation in general is currently unknown:
Adverse effects of spinal manipulation: a systematic review
http://www.jrsm.org/cgi/content/full/100/7/330


Minarvia said:
I have had some minor problems (who hasn't?) and when my mother said I should go to her chiropractor I refuse. So far regular temporary meds and excercises have taken care of my problems after a little while.
Click to expand...


If it's back pain that you suffer from, the emerging evidence suggests that you are doing the right thing:

Doubt cast on value of spinal manipulation and NSAIDS for acute back pain.

Australian researchers found that neither spinal manipulation or the
drug diclofenac hastened recovery of acute low-back pain patients who
had been properly counseled by their primary physician and prescribed
paracetamol for pain relief. The study involved 240 patients who
received either (a) diclofenac plus spinal manipulation, (b)
diclofenac and sham spinal manipulation, (c) spinal manipulation and
a placebo pill, or (d) sham manipulation plus a placebo pill. About
half recovered within two weeks and nearly all recovered within three
months.

[Hancock MJ and others. Assessment of diclofenac or spinal
manipulative therapy, or both, in addition to recommended first-line
treatment for acute low back pain: a randomized controlled trial.
Lancet 370:1638-1643, 2007]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/e...med.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVAbstractPlus

Full text:
http://www.acatoday.org/pdf/Lancet_Acute_Back_Pain_Nov.07.pdf

Diclofenac is a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug (NSAID).
Paracetamol is a pain-reliever marketed in the United States as
acetominophen or Tylenol. An accompanying editorial noted:

**Systematic reviews had concluded that NSAIDS and spinal
manipulation were more effective than placebos. However, the patients
in the reviewed studies did not have optimum first-line care, and the
apparent benefit was not large.

**Advice to remain active and prescription of paracetamol will be
sufficient for most patients with acute low back pain.
[Koes BW. Evidence-based management of acute low back pain. Lancet
370:1595-1596, 2007]


http://www.ncahf.net/digest07/07-47.html
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[My bold]


For those curious about the controversy surrounding chiropractic the following threads provide a lot of useful information:

Chiropractic Medicine
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98059

MSNBC/Self article: dangers of chiropractic
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85046

Chiropractic Woo?
http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=85436
 
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I suppose the controversy comes from the fact that not all chiropractors are created equal. :-)

I imagine most people claiming success with chiropractors have visited someone from the school of reformed chiropractic medicine (as wikipedia puts it).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiropractic#Practice_styles_and_schools_of_thought

So many chiropractors are shady individuals... I think if it was me I would rather go see a real doctor. According to the wikipedia article reformed chiropractors are also in the minority.

I think I would rather just get a massage.
 
:mad:
:mad:
:mad:

My girlfriend's brother had his daughter taken to a chiro - she was 6 months old .... they claim it "cured" her colic. At least the kid is doing fine today, she is 5 years old now. The idea of "adjusting" someone that young just makes me boil.
 
:mad:
:mad:
:mad:

My girlfriend's brother had his daughter taken to a chiro - she was 6 months old .... they claim it "cured" her colic. At least the kid is doing fine today, she is 5 years old now. The idea of "adjusting" someone that young just makes me boil.
 
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