Most will do the same old thing and say all chiropractors embrace harmful practices without the benefit of any evidence themselves. They sound like the people who say pressure cookers are dangerous because somebody claimed they had one that exploded and the lid hit the ceiling. I’m not endorsing chiropractic, but there’s no reason to believe AMA medicine is any better at dealing with simple back problems. Perhaps somebody ought to look into that and develop a scientific basis for treatment instead of hurling insults at each other.
“AMA medicine”? 
FYI, the A.M.A. has zero power to enforce medical practice guidelines. Its influence has been declining for years.
'In the early 1950s, about 75% of US physicians were AMA members. That percentage has steadily decreased over the years. In June, at the annual meeting of its policy-making body, the House of Delegates, the AMA announced that it lost another 12 000 members last year."
“That brings total membership below 216 000. Up to a third of those members don’t pay the full $420 annual dues, including medical students and residents. Not counting those members, somewhere in the neighbourhood of 15% of practising US doctors now belong to the AMA.”
It’s bad when an evidence-based procedure results (through poor practice or a known and unavoidable hazard) in injury to a patient. It’s unconscionable to continue to perform non-evidence-based procedures like chiropractic neck cracking when horrific outcomes like paralysis and death can be the result.
This is really the money quote. Chiropractor plus science = physical therapist. Just go to a PT.
I concur. I got to know a Chiro years ago who was quite disillusioned with his profession. That was his recommendation.
I was dealing with lower back pain for a while and went to a PT who looked at my x-rays and explained what was up, then I did a lot of exercises. I felt better but of course I didn’t keep up with the exercises and a year or so later I had more lower back pain, so I was like “I should try a chiropractor.” I asked my GP if it would be ok for me to see a chiro (not just any chiro, one with the Cleveland Clinic) and he said sure that’s fine.
He said - and this is the only time I’ve heard him swear in 20 years - “But don’t let them touch your neck. That’s where they can really fuck up.” 
Anyway I went to the chiro and he stretched my legs for me. He did one thing that would be considered “adjustment” by yanking down on my ankles. Then I’d get a 15 minute massage from someone else on his staff, which would feel awesome. There was an $80 co-pay on the visits. For $80 I could get an hour-long massage locally.
My takeaway from all this is 1) The stuff a chiro does that actually helps you is really just physical therapy (stretching, massage) 2) It only feels good for the short term, which is why you have to keep going back for treatment ($$) 3) You really should just do exercises on your own and strengthen your abs, back and legs 4) Don’t let a chiro near your neck, that’s where they can really fuck up.
How many chiropractors does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
One, but it takes thirty visits.
The smartest guy in my organic chemistry class went to chiropractic school. He said it was the best branch of medicine, as your patients never died and they never got better; they just kept coming back.
I asked a back surgeon about chiropractors. He said he wouldn’t try to talk a patient out of chiro treatment, but if they asked he would tell them that message therapy is much more effective (and safer) than anything a chiropractor would do.
In my profession, (personal injury attorney) many of my colleagues rely on treating chiropractors to prove their case. I have found many jurors are highly skeptical (as am I).
I’ve met a number of physicians who went into dermatology for the same reason 
Must still be hard for derms to have to tell so many people they have cancer.
A red headed friend of mine went to her dermatologist for biopsy of a skin lesion. When she returned for suture removal, a PA removed the single stitch, handed her a pamphlet “So, You Have Skin Cancer”, and a list of oncologists for referral.
Doesn’t sound all that hard.
It’s a lot more complicated than that in many cases. Especially for a dermatologist who does Mohs surgery.
Still, derm is usually a mellow lifestyle, if you can put up with having a LOT of patients who obsess endlessly about microscopic skin imperfections which are ruining their lives.
Lol, that’s me. I’ve asked the dermatologist about all sorts of tiny things. But when she said, “that’s not a wart, that’s the start of an age spot, and it’s not contagious” i was happy to declare the matter settled.
When my mother was a teenager in the 1940s, she had a friend who went to a chiro for her allergies, which was about as useful as any other treatment available at the time. 
At my first pharmacist job, in the mid 1990s, I had a colleague who left to go to chiropractic school, and he did practice for a number of years and is now retired. Anyway, he continued to work part-time there, and he was telling us about being criticized because he DID believe in allopathic medicine (i.e. MDs and DOs, which at one time I will admit were themselves glorified chiropractors) and he also had one classmate who was in his freshman year for the 3rd or 4th time. It sounds like they were going to keep him there as long as the tuition checks were good, and the guy was STILL convinced that he was going to be a doctor, and women would stand in line to have sex with him as a result, which he readily admitted was why he was there.
Your visits got closer because the guy needed boat payments…
Here is a decent article.
Agree. I read this story when it first appeared and it had a neutral headline. Never even thought of Jenner. This thread title made me wonder how I had missed Jenner being paralyzed in all the news feeds I read.
I’m a bit confused with the problem. Did she actually have a medical condition before she saw the chiro and the treatment made it worse? The article seems to say that even if she went to a MD the stroke would have happened anyway. Is this quote from a chiro accurate? If so, what exactly was her condition?
“Once they’ve gone to the medical doctor or chiropractor the likelihood is, unfortunately, a stroke will occur,” Ranicki told WJCL, adding that anything from someone tilting their head back in a hair salon or “horseplay or who knows what,” could trigger the injuries for someone with the condition.
I’ll me too this. This thread is the first I’ve heard of all this other stuff. My wife goes to a chiro a few times a year for lower back pain. It’s about a 10 minute lower back massage. She says she feels better after, but from what I can see she still has the same type of pain while bending or lifting something. I assume it’s a placebo effect.
IANAD, but wouldn’t no pulse for ten minutes mean no oxygen to the brain for 10 minutes? Add in traumatic brain injury and it sounds like a tough road back. What a terrible situation.
I’m a retired physician. I now do web design for fun and pocket change. I had a potential client who is a chiropractor. He is deep into the woo. When he showed me a list of services he wanted posted on his site, I had to drop him as a client. I don’t want any part of deceiving the public.
Years ago, I dated a chiropractor (not into woo). We weren’t getting along very well toward the tail end of the relationship, but stupidly, I let her manipulate my neck. Big mistake (luckily, no permanent damage). I learned 2 lessons that day:
- Don’t do everything in the name of love.
- Don’t let someone who’s pissed off at you twist your neck.
That being said, I have no problem with chiropractors who stay in their lane and refrain from woo. They do help some people with musculoskeletal problems. I’ve referred a few patients to them with good results.
Nor do I, when the likes of you and I define the lane. But per the official chiropractic hierarchy/philosophy/pseudoscience, that lane includes all human health.