Chiropractors

[legenddc]

52 minutes ago, bleedinblue said:

I swear I'm sick every other week now.  I used to maaaaybe get sick once a year.  Lack of sleep, lack of exercise, poor-ish diet, plus day care germs = sick daddy.

I'm going to get more details on what my wife expects the baby's appointment to be and contact our pediatrician before.  Googling shows its a very polarized topic...of course what isn't now days?

Gets better. Last year I was sick more than the rest of my life put together, but only a minor cold this year. Avoid Hand Foot and Mouth at whatever cost. I got it once and it was insanely painful. Our friend who had it said it was worse than giving birth.

[Woodenskye]

22 hours ago, Eric. said:

I stopped taking pediatricians seriously after several of them turned my kid into a steroid depository and made him a million times worse.  Their only solution is medicate, medicate, medicate.

Turns out all we had to do was STOP the medication and feed him better food.  Who woulda thought?

I agree that the most common thing is just to medicate, luckily my son doesn't get sick.

[freedhardwoods]

My back has had a habit of getting knocked out of alignment most of my life. I have had it so bad I couldn't walk without help. I would go to a chiropractor the first few years to get popped back into line. It was almost always one shot and I was fixed.

Every visit I would pay attention to how he twisted me and jumped on me. I learned his moves and for the last couple of decades, I have usually been able to fix myself when my back goes out.

I had to go to a different doc once when mine wasn't open. He wanted to set me up on several visits. I bluntly told him either fix me now or I was walking (more like limping) out. He did.

[Llama]

1 hour ago, freedhardwoods said:

I had to go to a different doc once when mine wasn't open. He wanted to set me up on several visits. I bluntly told him either fix me now or I was walking (more like limping) out. He did.

Exactly. Yeah, losing weight, more exercise and all that jazz is great and will help prevent many of the issues people seek out help for. However, getting a tweak isn't something that is a mystery. They know exactly how to do it, and you leave feeling better. 

[Marmotjr]

9 hours ago, ClassAct said:

Another word for chiropractic treatment is "massage." It is a massage. A focused one, but still a massage. Massage can do many things: loosen up tight ligaments, encourage better muscle movement, improve blood flow to injured areas.

Chiropractic medicine  is the adjustment of bones and joints, Therapeutic massage is the manipulation of the muscles.  They are not equal, and one is not the other.  

I only bring that up as my ex wife was a massage therapist who worked for a chiropractor, and a good one at that.  She (the Doc) would normally refer patients to either massage therapy to relieve muscle stress over the adjustments, or to more main stream docs for other therapies.  Adjustment was rarely her go to treatment, and she ran a booming business because of it.  

On the surface you can get away with thinking they (massage and adjustments) are the same thing, but when you look at the details, it's not true. 

[wdwerker]

And "happy ending " massage is a whole other thing as well.

[Coop]

I don't live anywhere near Hwy. 59 but saw that one coming

[Joshua Luther]

I absolutely love my chiropractor. I've been going to him for almost 20 years off and on. It's usually when I'm in pain that I decide to go. He never makes me feel guilty for not coming in more often. When I was going on a regular basis I definitely had more range of motion in my back and neck. My chiropractor is awesome that he doesn't ever push any supplements or oils. My wife, on the other hand, went to one who constantly told her that she needed to buy all of these supplements and come back in several times a week. Sometimes every other day. She quickly saw through his lies and scams. But it took her years to get to the point where she regained trust in chiropractors in general. We would both love to be able to go on a more consistent basis, but we usually are too busy to go.

I'm very fortunate also, to have one who shares my spiritual beliefs as a Christian so we are able to connect on that level as well. I'm also able to call anytime I want and get in within an hour. My insurance covers chiropractic care as well otherwise I'd never be able to afford to go.

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[wdwerker]

Yea, I may not go to my chiro for months or years but they fit me in pretty quickly. Of course being self employed I can leave whenever I want and if I'm in pain it's a fifteen minute drive outside of rush hour.

My doctor might be able to fit me in in a few days at best.

[Pondhockey]

The range of testimonials here is the reason that I no longer "dis" chiropractors.  If it works, it works.

In fact standard (i.e. AMA) medicine is trending toward increased recognition of individual differences in how we respond to (just about anything, including) medicine.  If it doesn't do a thing for me, it still might work very well for you, including pharmacological and practices.  (And the recent "breakthrough trend is for treatments tailored to specific DNA.)

As noted above, that also allows for some individual differences in the practitioner, and that's in all forms of medical practice.

[logos]

There is a wide spectrum in chiropractors. Many different chiropractic schools of thought. It's also very practitioner dependent in what they do and why they do what they do. Not as much of a standard of care like in western traditional medicine.

I was a fan. Now, not so much for me.

If it offers one relief of pain and better quality of life I'm all for it. I usually recommend giving it a try for muscular back pain to see if it resonates. I only have a problem with it when treating non musculoskeletal probs.

[ClassAct]

13 hours ago, Marmotjr said:

Chiropractic medicine  is the adjustment of bones and joints, Therapeutic massage is the manipulation of the muscles.  They are not equal, and one is not the other. 

Yep, no disagreement here. I use hyperbole from time to time as a means of persuasive speaking or writing. As others have pointed out, if the treatment fixes your problem, cool! It's when chiros stray from musculoskeletal problems and get into the woo that I firmly draw the line.

Some people desperately want to believe in magic. I don't have to believe in science; it works whether I want it to or not.

[Eric.]

Some chiro health practices are firmly rooted in science...others, it seems, not so much.  Which is why I think if they got their act together and dropped the eye-of-newt formulas and wafting of sage, people would take them much more seriously and I think they could do a lot of people good.

In general I think their overall philosophy makes sense: take care of your body with proper diet and exercise, lay off pharmaceuticals, hydrate, stretch, get sleep...and chances are you won't need modern medicine very often.

Modern medicine's motto seems to be: eat whatever you want and sit on your fat ass...come see us for drugs when you start dying from it.

One of them makes a whole lot more sense to me, even if some elements are a little...weird.

[drzaius]

It all comes down to science. Do the remedies offered provide verifiable, quantifiable & repeatable benefits? 

34 minutes ago, Eric. said:

Which is why I think if they got their act together and dropped the eye-of-newt formulas and wafting of sage, people would take them much more seriously and I think they could do a lot of people good.

Not so much for most of the whacky stuff.

[CandorLush]

A vast majority of the issues with Chiros is due to long term tobacco company level marketing against them by western doc orgs  combined with the with a hyper-awareness of any bad apples. I have been to a chiro a bunch but mostly find my issues to be muscular so I have regular massages and that keeps me going. YMMV but I am also the guy who trusts his life to my primary care doc who, although he is from Pittsburgh and a fellow WASP, went to med school on a Caribbean island( St. Maarten I believe).

[shaneymack]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned osteopaths. If you ever jack something up good, call an osteopath they are the real deal. I'm on the fence about chiros but most people I know that have had issues were able to have them fixed in a session or two by an osteo.

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[Pondhockey]

9 hours ago, drzaius said:

It all comes down to science. Do the remedies offered provide verifiable, quantifiable & repeatable benefits? 

Not so much for most of the whacky stuff.

Yes, but...

(I'm a retired scientist/engineer/statistician):  the traditional statistical treatment (e.g. the typical "clinical trials") are very simplified and wind up putting individual differences in with the statistical noise.  I know.  I've designed and analyzed them.

Obviously, I'm with you on "it comes down to science" in general, but for an individual who doesn't have the long term to wait for (remember, "in the long term we'll all be dead") 

practically speaking, if it works, it works.

[Coop]

The closest I've ever gotten was in the mall where they are rubbing complete strangers with their elbows while the spouses are watching and a tip jar is close by

[Mick S]

I would not take, nor let my wife take a 13 month old child to a chiropractor. Period.

 

[freedhardwoods]

3 hours ago, shaneymack said:

I'm surprised no one has mentioned osteopaths. If you ever jack something up good, call an osteopath they are the real deal. I'm on the fence about chiros but most people I know that have had issues were able to have them fixed in a session or two by an osteo.

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My parents (and my first) family doctor was an osteopath. He sewed my arm up that I ripped open on a nail when I was 4 as well as fixed my back the first few times I threw it out when I was a teen.

[shaneymack]

8 hours ago, freedhardwoods said:

My parents (and my first) family doctor was an osteopath. He sewed my arm up that I ripped open on a nail when I was 4 as well as fixed my back the first few times I threw it out when I was a teen.

Interesting. In Canada, Osteopaths are not MD's. They are just osteopaths so they only do adjustments. 

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, shaneymack said:

Interesting. In Canada, Osteopaths are not MD's. They are just osteopaths so they only do adjustments. 

In the US, there is really no difference between and DO and an MD.   They get the same training and take the same tests.  Some medical schools issue a DO degree, some issue a MD degree.   DO stands for doctor of osteopathy, while MD stands for Medical Doctor.  There is a completely different professional called an osteopath, those people are not physicians and and can not practice as a DO.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_MD_and_DO_in_the_United_States

[shaneymack]

1 minute ago, Mike. said:

In the US, there is really no difference between and DO and an MD.   They get the same training and take the same tests.  Some medical schools issue a DO degree, some issue a MD degree.   DO stands for doctor of osteopathy, while MD stands for Medical Doctor.  There is a completely different professional called an osteopath, those people are not physicians and and can not practice as a DO.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_MD_and_DO_in_the_United_States

Ya exactly. So we just have Osteopaths here. I know its a heck of a lot of schooling they have to do to get the degree. But it is not a DO. 

[prov163]

I agree with Eric that diet and exercise are key elements in health.  Wanna lose weight?  Expend more calories than you take in.  It's not rocket science.  The reason so many kids are obese today is not the food they eat, though that could certainly be improved.  It's the lack of exercise.  When I was a kid, back in the Jurassic Age, we were outside playing and dodging T-Rex's instead of inside playing Candy Crush.

I think most of the time people just act like doctors are the boss.  They work for you, not the other way around.  If my doctor says, "I'm going to prescribe..." I stop him and say, "Is there a lifestyle change, dietary or otherwise, that will resolve this without meds?  If not, I want to know more about the medication, side effects, interactions, how long I will have to take it, etc."

Like any other business you do, you should be a wise, educated consumer.

[Tpt life]

3 hours ago, prov163 said:

I agree with Eric that diet and exercise are key elements in health.  Wanna lose weight?  Expend more calories than you take in.  It's not rocket science.  The reason so many kids are obese today is not the food they eat, though that could certainly be improved.  It's the lack of exercise.  When I was a kid, back in the Jurassic Age, we were outside playing and dodging T-Rex's instead of inside playing Candy Crush.

Yeah, I seriously doubt this. Three sisters with Hashimoto's thyroiditus totally transformed their bodies and health with diet alone. No exercise was effective without eliminating the triggers that set off their autoimmune condition. I am not in total disagreement, I just think that diet has far more to do with it than any great level of exercise.