Chiropractic care

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.

I'm surprised by all the people who will go to see a chiro on a recommendation, but won't take the time to find a trained D.O to do manipulations.

evileen99 wrote: »

I work in healthcare and so VERY skeptical about chiros. Then I did something to my back. Muscle relaxers weren't helping, I was in too much pain to do the exercises the doc gave me, I was sleeping in a chair because it was too painful to get in and out of bed. My best friend kept telling me to go to her chiro, and I was desperate enough to do it. I kept telling myself that if tries to do x rays, or sell me vitamins, or touch my neck, I'm out of there.

He did an exam very similar to the ortho's, then had me lay on my stomach with a heating pad for about 15 minutes. He came in, put me in some weird position, and did this horrible wrenching movement to my spine. And there was an immediate improvement in my back. I didn't get up and do cartwheels, but I could do things I couldn't do before. He showed me some exercises to do (some were the same as the ortho's) and put me on an icing schedule. Said if I hadn't seen improvement in a week to come back, otherwise I was done. As it turns out, I was done.

So there are some that are "legit," but the practice is full of scam artists and woo.

This is what I hear all the time: Chiropractors making their patients lay on a heating pad for an extended period of time. WTH for??? Why do they need a heating pad to loosen the patient up? If they were any good, they would be able to treat their patient cold.

I know a lot of people who swear by them. My parents went frequently when my siblings & I were growing up. About 6 months after my daughter was born, I had terrible lower back pain. So bad I could hardly walk. I went to a chiropractor a few times, with no relief at all. Quit the treatments and my pain went away eventually. That was over 30 years ago. Have not been to one since. They are not for me.

When I last looked for evidence, the only positive I could find was that it was about as effective as physio (ie not very) for patients with mild lower back pain. For anything else, it’s complete woo and, as others have said, neck manipulation can be extremely dangerous.

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I agree with the others who said that there are good and bad within the profession. I struggled with foot pain for years (Achilles issues, plantar fascitis, flat feet). I brought it up to all of my doctors, I went to an ortho none of them were able to offer me anything to relieve the pain. A friend referred me to a chiropractor who does a combination of chiropractic, physical therapy and massage. Within in 3 visits I was pain free. He wasn't a miracle worker, but in addition to treating me at the office, he actually showed me stretches and exercises to do at home that would be beneficial.