I've lost 50 lbs, I need a Chiropractor?

I went to a chiro for my back pain a few months ago. He tried to get me to buy some $3700 "treatment plan" that included me coming in 4 days a week and doing stuff at home. Told me my spine was all messed up, I need extensive treatment, basically made it sound like I was dying and he was going to be my savior. I left and never went back. I went to my regular doctor after that.

Packerjohn wrote: »

marm1962 wrote: »

Packerjohn wrote: »

ComptonSkyhawk wrote: »

Thank you everyone for your advice! I guess the first step would be to sleep in my own bed, as I have been working away from home for the last two weeks. Second step would be to see an actual professional. I have been to a Chiropractor once in my life 20 years ago. The practitioner said my hips weren't even. I imagine now they would want x-rays and such first anyway. I'm thinking a massage might be an idea, feels more muscular rather than skeletal. Never had a massage before.

I will concentrate on stretching better after workouts, I guess its a necessary evil, I just find it boring.

Nobody's hips are even. Whether in your case it's enough to cause a problem on an unethical chiropractor trying to drum up business who knows.

Good luck.

? Nobody's hips are even? Explain please

Pretty much as stated. Nobody has a perfectly symmetrical skeletal structure. In most cases this lack of symmetry doesn't cause any problems. In some severe cases it can.

Dishonest chiropractors will often point to uneven hips, one leg shorter than the other, etc on an xray as a reason for pain to justify a long costly treatment plan. Often some mobility/flexibility work treats the muscle strength imbalance which is the root cause of the pain.

All you ever wanted to know and more... :-)

http://www.chirobase.org/

aylajane wrote: »

I think chiros (good ones) have a place - good ones will focus on the underlying issues and correcting them, not just "fix you up" so you can walk that day. Home exercise is a must - and a foam roller with some youtube videos has me believing I will never need a chiro again! But they should be able to explain the pain's source (is muscle imbalance, which leads to overcompensation, etc), how to help you and most importantly what to do to keep it from happening again.

Muscle imbalance is a big deal for me, and I suspect many who just start trying lifting or an exercise program, especially on their own without a "program" to follow or a trainer to create one. I know I tend to only do what I like - quad exercises are great for me, but I hate hamstrings. I like chest presses but never realized my back even had muscles. Over training one without training the opposite and supporting muscles is a recipe for pain.

Basically - if you can push 50 pounds off your chest, you should be able to pull 50 pounds with your back, etc. - keep muscle pairs even as you go! Thats very simplified and I am sure I am stating wrong, but its easier to think about this way for non-professionals like me.

Nice post. As mentioned improper exercise selection can cause muscle imbalance issues. However the 800 pound gorilla in the corner is the amount of sitting most people do and the other poor body mechanice the 22-23 hours a day not dedicated to formal exercise.

I found that Chiro was good for low back pain, not so much the spine 'cracking part', but the deep stretches they can apply to your muscles/ligament/tendons using there special table. It could help loosen up your hips.

Definitely try Yoga, lots of examples on YouTube, 'pigeon pose' in particular is good for stretching your IT band which has an effect on hip pain.

Nobody can tell you how your body is reacting to the weight loss but a doctor. Go see one before it gets worse. Chiropractors are not at the top of my list to see when I have back pain. I have met some good ones over the years, but most are quacks. I've been to a chiropractor 6 times in my life, 3x they made it worse. 2 times it didn't help much at all, and 1 time it helped immensely. That's not a good record in my book.

I started at 305 lbs in January of 2015. By June or July of 2015 i had lost a ton of weight and was walking every day, sometimes seven days a week. I ignored the pain, walked anyway, and ended up with a herniated disc. The pain was unbearable, and I had to get steroid shots and was down for at least a week. The shots helped so much that it was like I never had any pain. I went right back to it and two-three weeks later managed to herniate 2 more discs. It was horrible pain. My back just wasn't used to the constant impact, nor the exercise I was doing to lose the weight. I had been attempting to burn 1000 calories a day walking, lifting, and doing anything I could think of to burn calories. The moral of this story is that I should have slowed down, saw a doctor right away, and dealt with it before it became an issue. Since the last injury healed I learned some yoga moves that really help my back, neck, shoulders, and hips and I now do them religiously before and after each workout. Good luck, just don't ignore the pain, and consider seeing a doctor or orthopedic doctor before a chiropractor.

TheCrawlingChaos wrote: »

Physical therapy maybe. Chiropractor, no. There's little to not supporting evidence that chiropractic manipulations help with anything other than lower back pain, and even then I believe the evidence is not solid. Anything plausibly claimed by a chiropractor can be accomplished cheaper and safer through physical therapy.

Chiropractic was formed following the belief that "subluxations,"affecting health, can be treated through spinal manipulation. This has never been prooven. While there are "mixer," who mix in some medical approaches, I don't think the proper medical training is required under chiropractic school, and they still generally believe in the notion of subluxations causing diseases. Knowing that I'd rather trust my back in the hands of a proper medical professional, rather than those who base their profession on pseudoscience.

Thank you for this awesome post.

ComptonSkyhawk wrote: »

Thank you everyone for your advice! I guess the first step would be to sleep in my own bed, as I have been working away from home for the last two weeks. Second step would be to see an actual professional. I have been to a Chiropractor once in my life 20 years ago. The practitioner said my hips weren't even. I imagine now they would want x-rays and such first anyway. I'm thinking a massage might be an idea, feels more muscular rather than skeletal. Never had a massage before.

I will concentrate on stretching better after workouts, I guess its a necessary evil, I just find it boring.

Reading "Can You Go? by Dan John, well respected strength and conditioning guy. He had an interesting warm-up/mobility drill in the book

Lay on back, get up to feet
lay on stomach, get up to feet
lay on right side, get up to feet
lay on left side, get up to feet
push up plank position, get up to feet

Same sequence of 5 except you have to keep right hand on right knee
Then keep left hand on left knee
Then keep right hand on left knee
Finally keep left hand on right knee.

So you have a total of 25 get ups from various positions. It almost feels like playing a solitary game of Twister. If you're not used to moving on the ground it's harder then you would think. As you get better you can try to improve your time.

Might take some of the boredom out.