Chiropractic care

Never been to one. My brother used to go to one often for bad back. Either chiro or crutches. That's all I know.

I've been to several chiropractors over the years. Several were a bit more loonie/aggressive/wooful than others. I have one now that I trust. I see him when I need too. He rarely does a neck adjustment, and my neck is the biggest issue. He uses active release techniques. As with most people (personal trainers, financial advisors, physicians), you need to trust those you are working with.

Chiropractors have different training requirements and different scope of practice in different states in US. Other countries are even more variable. There are also many kinds of chiropractic treatments, so one size does not fit all.

JeromeBarry1 wrote: »

I have, since I was very young, been aware of chiropractic care. Mom was addicted to drugs and chiros. I saw with my own eyes how chiros managed to manipulate her emotions to keep her coming back. However, I also saw with my own eyes how occasionally they managed to do some good. That's anecdotal. This next is, too. I was a 300+ lb obese fellow walking down a parking garage stairway when my spine suddenly became cockeyed. Catty-cornered. Whomperjayed. There's no real word for it, but if you can imagine seeing a person from the rear and their spine is vertical. It was as if my spine had a sharp 40 degree angle. Yes, it hurt. I climbed back up the stairs to the level of my parked car, walked in great pain to my car. In great pain I got in my car and drove home. At home, and you know this was a long time ago because I looked in the Yellow Pages for nearby chiropractors, I found a chiropractor with an office nearby and without even calling for an appointment I once again in great pain got in my car and drove to his office. In great pain I walked in his front door and in less than 30 minutes I walked out again upright. It's been so long that I don't remember if I returned to work or not that same day.
Again, that's anecdotal.
Another is with my wife, who several years ago had pain in her neck. At the time, we didn't know what was causing it. I persuaded her to see a local chiropractor and his treatment aggravated her pain and we never returned. Eventually she was diagnosed as having a degenerate disk. Even later we finally found a doctor who would do anything other than prescribe drugs. She has two vertebrae fused in her neck now and is mostly pain free and able to work a job.

Chiropractic care is a crap-shoot. One saved my life. One nearly killed my wife.

I agree. You have to do your due diligence and sometimes try a couple out. I am NOT a fan of "adjustments". I've seen 3 different chiropractors in my lifetime. Two were great, one terrible. The first I went to for terrible neck muscle pain from office life and storing all my stress in my neck. He did ultrasound and massage for several treatments and I was good to go. Second one was a friend of my husband's and he guilted me into seeing him. He only did adjustments and tried to sell all sorts of woo. I finally refused to ever go back to him. The third I'm seeing now. He markets himself as "sports rehab" and focuses on soft tissue manipulation. Pretty much a physical therapist. I've gained so much range of motion in my shoulder from him it's crazy. I just injured my leg recently, so he's moving on to helping those muscles/ligaments heal now.

I recently started going to a chiropractor who was recommended to me because I was having some chronic pain issues in my neck and shoulder. The one I go to has been an athlete all her life and her approach involves integrating a lot of stretching and movement exercises that she showed me rather than just me going there and having her do the work. She honestly seems a bit more like a physical therapist to me, which I am fine with. She's a self proclaimed anatomy nerd and she's always trying to learn more about the body. She doesn't try to treat anything that isn't related to what she does or is supposed to do. I was a huge skeptic, but she has helped. My pain is pretty much gone. Honestly though, if she didn't come highly recommended by someone I respect, I might not have ever gone to her or any other chiro for that matter. I do think finding a good chiro is a crap shoot, and I got lucky.

garber6th wrote: »

I recently started going to a chiropractor who was recommended to me because I was having some chronic pain issues in my neck and shoulder. The one I go to has been an athlete all her life and her approach involves integrating a lot of stretching and movement exercises that she showed me rather than just me going there and having her do the work. She honestly seems a bit more like a physical therapist to me, which I am fine with. She's a self proclaimed anatomy nerd and she's always trying to learn more about the body. She doesn't try to treat anything that isn't related to what she does or is supposed to do. I was a huge skeptic, but she has helped. My pain is pretty much gone. Honestly though, if she didn't come highly recommended by someone I respect, I might not have ever gone to her or any other chiro for that matter. I do think finding a good chiro is a crap shoot, and I got lucky.

There does seem to be two distinct camps of chiro, those who think it cures everything from acne and asthma to the plague and those who want to be part of an integrated, evidence based medical team. I used to be on a chiro board years ago and many of the harshest critics were ex-chiros who believed in partnership with doctors and other traditional healthcare professionals.

I am all for whatever technique works for the situation and it seems she's one of the good ones.

I know all the skeptic stuff and I grew up occasionally making the trip to the chiro with my dad and stepmom (I lived with my mother) to treat her migraines and get his back adjusted. I never had it done at that time, even when it was offered - Dad had a family plan - because it just looked brutal.

Flash forward decades later. I am having chronic lower back pain and I am waking up with more and more neck issues (commonly known as a "kink" in your neck) and I was starting to wake up with that tingling feeling you get when your arm "falls asleep" in my left pinky. Eventually it moved to encompass my ring finger as well. It typically went away within a couple hours but eventually it never quite went away so I decided to go see a chiropractor.

He took xrays and we talked about what he saw. He explained that it would be best if I came in 3 times a week to start and explained that my body had learned to hold my spine in a certain way and that while things might feel better for a few days after an adjustment, the muscles have trained themselves to hold things a certain way and we needed to keep working to get them to hold things in a better position. We started the plan and little by little things got better. Eventually (about 3 weeks in) he wasn't getting much movement or finding as much out of alignment so we cut back to twice a week for 2-3 weeks. As we went on, my back felt better, the tingling issues and neck issues went away and I was starting to feel pretty good. We worked it down to once a week and eventually every other week and then monthly. I felt great about it. He would even do adjustments on my wrists and elbows which felt fantastic.

The following year I signed up for a yearly maintenence program. He figured out how many times he would expect to see me (basically once a month with a few extra visits for any issue that came up) and I saw him for about 5 years. I loved going to see him just before I went league bowling on Friday nights because I felt like everything was loose and relaxed and in line.

One of the other things that happened at the same time was my bronchitis changing. Now I don't know if the whole idea that they talk about with how the nerves all go through the spine and if things are pinched off, signals don't get through which could affect your immune system and things like that is true or not but I can tell you this much. For the previous decade I was getting bronchitis pretty much once each winter, and then if I came down with it early (like Sept-Nov), I was pretty much assured to get it again in late winter. What started as every few years and then became yearly, then twice a year routinely, started going back to once a year after I started chiropractic care and was less severe. Eventually it went away and I rarely get it anymore. So whether that is just coincidence or effect I can't say but it certainly went hand in hand with treatment.

Eventually I moved out here to the Seattle area and never found one I liked since. My previous one was what I call the "back cracker" type. It was very hands on and pushing and such. The two I tried here were all about little percussion instruments and such and it all felt VERY woo-ish and I never got anything from it.