Chiropractors

[habernac]

They're like other doctors. Some suck, some are very good at their jobs. I've had MDs who just write prescriptions and kick you out the door. I've had two chiropractors who were extremely helpful. One, not so much.

[metal_geek]

Problem with chiropractors is they talk up thier profession as a "Mainstream" when it's just another alternative medicine. They tell you all kinds of things about misalignment and how proper alignment can prevent every problem known to man..

They are the same "doctors" who talk about how bad vacines are and other stuff like that. The term "DR." give them some kinda of crediability when 95% of the things they are saying have little to no proper scientific testing. That gives them a powerful position to sway people's views, more then they should have..

I've gone to a chiropractor 3 times a week for most of a year and once a week for the rest of it, so I know the whole life long routine speech. It did help my sore shoulder... not sure I wouldn't have been better served seeing a massage therapist... Either way.. All I know is my chriopractor was a great guy, he really believes he's doing good and it helped my sore shoulder.. Aside from that it turns my stomach to hear some of the stuff he says..

[Knut]

Think of the bad ones this way...

It would be like me as an Optometrist telling you that Iridology* is true.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridology

[amorak]

I think they'd be fine if they didn't try to up-sell you on everything and stopped calling themselves "doctors" - They are glorified masseuses, and should be treated as such.

I've never been, but I do have a family that is in all sorts of medial fields and every single one thinks they are quacks. I'm not that extreme, but I'd would never get any active treatment (the hard snapping motions and stuff) but if they can help gently with lower back problems, I wouldn't be adverse to going...

[troutman]

The End Of Chiropractic:

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=3022

An article written by 3 chiropractors and a PhD in physical education and published on December 2, 2009 in the journal Chiropractic and Osteopathy may have sounded the death knell for chiropractic.

In the 114 years since chiropractic began, the existence of chiropractic subluxations has never been objectively demonstrated. They have never been shown to cause interference with the nervous system. They have never been shown to cause disease. Critics of chiropractic have been pointing this out for decades, but now chiropractors themselves have come to the same conclusion.

There is a significant lack of evidence in the literature to fulfill Hill’s criteria of causation as regards chiropractic subluxation. No supportive evidence is found for the chiropractic subluxation being associated with any disease process or of creating suboptimal health conditions requiring intervention. Regardless of popular appeal this leaves the subluxation construct in the realm of unsupported speculation. This lack of supportive evidence suggests the subluxation construct has no valid clinical applicability. [emphasis added]

I am reading this interesting book right now:

http://www.amazon.com/Snake-Oil-Scie.../dp/0195313682

Snake Oil Science: The Truth about Complementary and Alternative Medicine (Hardcover)

~ R. Barker Bausell PhD (Author)

"Is any complementary and alternative medical therapy more effective than a placebo?" In short, his answer is no;

[Dentoman]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Why not make fun of dentists? I mean, at least teeth are replaceable.

Hey, leave us out of this ....

[Knut]

4X4 is an Anti-Dentite

[zuluking]

Originally Posted by troutman

The End Of Chiropractic:

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=3022

An article written by 3 chiropractors and a PhD in physical education and published on December 2, 2009 in the journal Chiropractic and Osteopathy may have sounded the death knell for chiropractic.

In the 114 years since chiropractic began, the existence of chiropractic subluxations has never been objectively demonstrated. They have never been shown to cause interference with the nervous system. They have never been shown to cause disease. Critics of chiropractic have been pointing this out for decades, but now chiropractors themselves have come to the same conclusion.

There is a significant lack of evidence in the literature to fulfill Hill’s criteria of causation as regards chiropractic subluxation. No supportive evidence is found for the chiropractic subluxation being associated with any disease process or of creating suboptimal health conditions requiring intervention. Regardless of popular appeal this leaves the subluxation construct in the realm of unsupported speculation. This lack of supportive evidence suggests the subluxation construct has no valid clinical applicability. [emphasis added]

I am reading this interesting book right now:

http://www.amazon.com/Snake-Oil-Scie.../dp/0195313682

Snake Oil Science: The Truth about Complementary and Alternative Medicine (Hardcover)

~ R. Barker Bausell PhD (Author)

"Is any complementary and alternative medical therapy more effective than a placebo?" In short, his answer is no;

Next question: Is a placebo effective?

[CaptainCrunch]

If I want my neck snapped I'll commit a murder and wait for Steven Segal to show up.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by zuluking

Next question: Is a placebo effective?

Yes.

The placebo effect is very interesting.

CAM has not been able to demonstrate any better results than we would expect from the placebo effect. Mainstream science-based medical treatments often perform better than the placebo effect.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Dentoman

Hey, leave us out of this ....

Lol. Sorry, man. I'm not anti-dentite. I didn't know that Chiropractors didn't go to "real" medical school. And FTR, after I posted it, I remembered that you guys actually do surgery.

So, how about we make fun of podiatrists instead?

[Knut]

Or Optometrists!

[4X4]

Originally Posted by Hesla

Or Optometrists!

Nah, you guys are real doctors, too.

[Finny61]

..Now I really want to vent about dentists

[Dentoman]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Lol. Sorry, man. I'm not anti-dentite. I didn't know that Chiropractors didn't go to "real" medical school. And FTR, after I posted it, I remembered that you guys actually do surgery.

So, how about we make fun of podiatrists instead?

Fire away at us ... we probably deserve it for something.

The podiatrist Seinfeld episode was a good one too.

[photon]

Yeah out in Chestermere they had a night at the Parent Link center where a Chiropractor was coming to talk about the "link between Chiropractic and ADHD".

I alternately decided to go and not go like 50 times, I wanted to go to see how bad it was but didn't want to go because it would have been a waste and if someone is going to that they already see Chiropractics as an "authority" so trying to bring a science-based viewpoint wouldn't have resulted in anything positive..

[mikey_the_redneck]

This thread makes me think of.........

[4X4]

Originally Posted by mikey_the_redneck

This thread makes me think of.........

That's who I had in mind when I mentioned that they get mocked on TV...

[PyramidsofMars]

Throughout high school I had awful posture and back pain. Especially in the upper spine and neck. I never went to a chiropractor because everyone told me they were quacks and hacks and all sorts of horror stories about this and that.

During my year off my part-time job became really the main focus of my life aside from reading, TV, and long walks. Everything just got worse, even though the job is not remotely stressful (it's sort of obscene that I get paid even minimum wage for it, really).

I went to massage therapists. Very well-known and much-recommended ones. Nothing worked for me. Sure, muscle tension in my back was reduced, but it became increasingly obvious that the vertebrae were just freakin' out of place.

So I ignored everyone and went to a chiropractor. Best decision of my life. They balanced my gait, my posture, my back, everything. I had this weird walk that they got rid of. I could tell by feeling that vertebrae were out of place and over a few months they placed those back, fixed virtually everything that was wrong with me physically, and I am now about a billion times more comfortable. I can actually walk straight instead of looking like a quasi-hunchback.

Sometimes I wonder if my chiropractor does lead others on, and he does talk about subluxations with other patients, etc. For this reason I won't mention who it is. So I don't really believe that chiro has much benefit with all that sort of thing... in which case, yeah, it is just 'alternative medicine'.

But when it comes to the very basics of chiro- that they can really fix someone's comfort level, rid you of pain, drastically improve your posture, put everything back where it should be, and have that be a permanent fix which only needs to be looked at every so often beyond that point, then I absolutely believe that it works.

Every single thing about how I feel is a billion times better than it was before I went to a chiropractor. Not to mention I've seen hard proof of the results in X-rays and such.

[ricosuave]

Just like it has been said, there are good and bad ________________ in life.

I've had excellent treatment from a couple of chiros for a back injury and have almost completely cured it with accupuncture treatment.

I have had treatments from both (different doctors) that didnt do anything for me, and have had a chiro that tried to tell me to come in weekly, whether I needed to or not. (PS Ever since the back injury I have been pretty in tune with my back and know when to get in - no doctor will convince me otherwise - so far, Ive been right)

I agree the neck manipulation is risky, which is why I dont get it, but the spine manipulation and deep muscle massage works for me.