Chiropractic medicine?

T

takingAdookie

Well-Known Member
Messages
83
There are a lot of smart educated people on here would love to get your takes on Chiropractic medicine. Do you view it as quackery or legit? My mother is having some spinal issues and saw a TV ad for a free first visit which includes an Xray and adjustment if needed. I've talked to a couple people around here who were referred to Chiropractors by their lawyers. That right there seems kinda shady to me. Just don't know who or what to believe online anymore so I'd like to get my Tar Heel homies opinions on here. Appreciate it!
 
nrsair said:
She will almost certainly be better off going to a physical therapist, massage therapist or both.
Click to expand...
yeah.....i'm not in the medical field whatsoever, some MD's here will probably have better advice but if your mom doesn't have an injury but is in chronic pain / discomfort, a PT is going to help figure out exactly what's happening and then give her strategies to keep it from happening or manage it better in the future. the strategies usually involve involve doing more / less of certain movements / exercises. a PT might determine that the particular way that your mom is sitting for 5-6 hours a day is causing the issue and that she needs to change that arrangement probably along with more general exercise and movement.

motion is the lotion with regard to so many musculoskeletal issues. the ones that aren't related to some injury or trauma, at least.
 
Last edited:
"Spinal issues" sounds like something you'd want real imaging for - meaning an MD. Odds are they'll wind up sending her to a PT. Like everything, some PTs are better than others ( on the diagnostic side, the coaching side, etc) so get lots of recommendations instead of just relying on the MD's reference.

I'm leary of "adjustments" and "manipulations" if they aren't necessary and aren't part of a long-term solution (versus a plan of having adjustments every few weeks). That said, I had a nagging hamstring issue which was missed by an Orthopaedic MD, but a chiropractor (Darcy Ward) nailed it as hamstring tendonitis. Some needling and eccentric exercises fixed me up. And my mid-30's wife had some shoulder/back pain relief from Darcy which involved some "adjustments".

Darcy also really pushed for me to start drinking bone broth LOL - quack quack.
 
Most are anti-vaxing quacks. A few, who understand what they should be doing, can add value as an adjunctive only. They should never be primary or sole.

Once, at a gym I used to work out at, a chiropractor had a booth set up. They offered me a free evaluation at their office. I went and they spent part of the introduction damning all vaccines and pharmaceuticals. He actually told me he could treat recalcitrant otitis media through spinal manipulation alone. That was 1989.
 
RFK Jrs only supporters in the medical line are chiropractors, take that for what its worth.

when you are really sick (ICU, surgery, meningitis, cancer) there is not a chiropractor to be seen at the bedside.
 
Chiropractic isn't medicine. Some people get helped by it but it's essentially by accident. It's not even as good as most folk healing traditions around the world, because those at least have generations-long histories of being observed to heal people even if they haven't undergone scientific testing.

Find your mom a DO and/or a PT. In a just world chiropractors would be jailed.
 
There is a type of doctor of medicine called a DO. It's like an MD with some chiropractic training. I've just managed to upset three different professions with that statement.

An MD would say that DO's don't get nearly as much training on the medical side and that DO schools admit less qualified candidates than traditional medical schools. Most would call chiropractics quacks.

A DO would say that they don't receive chiropractic training but they do receive physical manipulative training similar to chiropracty that targets the whole body as part of their education and residency. They would also say that they get much more rigorous training than a chiropractor.

The chiropractor would say that they get focused training on one part of the body and MD's and DO's and pharmaceutical companies are just mad because chiropractors can relieve spinal pain without medicine. Plus they got their degree in record time compared to the investment in time and treasure that these other snooty medical students made.

I've heard anecdotally that Chiropractors have helped some people. I think it's probably enough that it's a little bit more than a placebo effect. I would be terrified to go to one. There is a small but real risk that you can end up a paraplegic if the chiropractor makes a mistake.
 
Last edited:
akillesheel said:
Chiropractic isn't medicine. Some people get helped by it but it's essentially by accident. It's not even as good as most folk healing traditions around the world, because those at least have generations-long histories of being observed to heal people even if they haven't undergone scientific testing.

Find your mom a DO and/or a PT. In a just world chiropractors would be jailed.
Click to expand...
by accident?
 
uncgriff said:
RFK Jrs only supporters in the medical line are chiropractors, take that for what its worth.

when you are really sick (ICU, surgery, meningitis, cancer) there is not a chiropractor to be seen at the bedside.
Click to expand...
spot on. It's been some time, but at LRMC (Landstuhl) around 2005, the worrisome mold was Aspergillus. Now, 20+ years later it's Candida auras. Good luck finding a chiropractor who can help you with either. Smart folks will leave that to the MDs. Even those who run cost containment programs masquerading as stewardship efforts.
 
gtyellowjacket said:
There is a type of doctor of medicine called a DO. It's like an MD with some chiropractic training. I've just managed to upset three different professions with that statement.

An MD would say that DO's don't get nearly as much training on the medical side and that DO schools admit less qualified candidates than traditional medical schools. Most would call chiropractics quacks.

A DO would say that they don't receive chiropractic training but they do receive physical manipulative training similar to chiropracty that targets the whole body as part of their education and residency. They would also say that they get much more rigorous training than a chiropractor.

The chiropractor would say that they get focused training on one part of the body and MD's and DO's and pharmaceutical companies are just mad because chiropractors can relieve spinal pain without medicine. Plus they got their degree in record time compared to the investment in time and treasure that these other snooty medical students made.

I've heard anecdotally that Chiropractors have helped some people. I think it's probably enough that it's a little bit more than a placebo effect. I would be terrified to go to one. There is a small but real risk that you can end up a paraplegic if the chiropractor makes a mistake.
Click to expand...
I remember reading this article about how osteopathic doctors are on the rise, but also the distinction between them and MDs may be functionally disappearing over time:

www.nytimes.com

So Your Doctor Is a D.O. Does That Matter?

The number of osteopathic doctors has increased dramatically. People still don’t know what they are.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

I'd damn sure go to an osteopathic doctor before a chiropractor.
 
I’ve been to a well-reviewed chiropractor a handful of times with good results. I’ve also been to world-renowned physical therapy with good results.

Basically I’ve taken the most effective stretches and exercises I’ve learned from them and have been able to manage things on my own for a while now.

Might depend on your mom’s fitness and whether she’ll stick to that stuff on her own, or needs scheduled, structured help with it.
 
1. In my experience, chiropractors are good for back pain specifically. The manipulations can help. I don't know about neck but I will take the doc's word for it. I can't compare to a PT specifically, but the back-crack does make things better. The key is maintaining the new state, which can be difficult. But the advantage is immediate improvement. And it might also depend on what type of back issue. My back gets cracked and I get an inch taller.

2. Everything else is garbage. I don't know, no chiropractor ever tried to sell me on anything but a back-crack. Perhaps they took a look at me and figured it wasn't going to work at all (not physical appearance but patient profile or perhaps the way I talk). I sure as hell wouldn't go in for any of it.
 
rodoheel said:
I remember reading this article about how osteopathic doctors are on the rise, but also the distinction between them and MDs may be functionally disappearing over time:

www.nytimes.com

So Your Doctor Is a D.O. Does That Matter?

The number of osteopathic doctors has increased dramatically. People still don’t know what they are.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

I'd damn sure go to an osteopathic doctor before a chiropractor.
Click to expand...
I don't think there's any difference at all, at least not in most specialties. DOs and MDs take the same boards; prescribe the same medications; buy the same malpractice insurance; so on and so forth. Most importantly, there are no DO specific residency programs. So MDs and DOs train together, work together, are hired by the same institutions, etc. It's basically all the same now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top