Beats the Mars bar method.
And more fun than this cure.
Moderator intervenes: Please, folks, let’s try to retain a certain amount of polite good manners here. Personal insults are not permitted in this forum. You can criticize what a person says all you want, but assuming motives or attacking the person is a rules violation.
We have a guest here, and whether you consider his opinions worthwhile, he certainly represents a point of view and he (as a person) must be respected.
C K, I hope this admonition also applies to our guest, who has imputed financial motives to those criticizing chiropractic, as in post #23:
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I am curious to know what my life would have been like without my chiropractor.
I was diagnosed with scoliosis by my regular doctor when I was very young. The doctor warned me that I might need to be put in a body cast. But my mother, who had already been seeing a chiropractor for years, took me to him knowing there was a better way. I was given spinal scans and all sorts of tests of my flexibility and such and then told to come in three times a week. Eventually I worked down to only coming in when I wanted to, which is about once every two weeks or so. My chiropractor has helped me manage my scoliosis without a body cast and he has also helped me manage my daily back and neck pain. My chiropractor is a blessing and I truly believe in the field of chiropractics.
Hello Cecil, It’s unfortunate that in your column you choose to perpetuate the idea that only a medical doctor has the answers for the healthcare that is best for you. If this were true why are so many people in search of an alternative? Perhaps they are not getting better from taking the muscle relaxants (that their physicians typically prescribe), or their doctor does not know how to treat or fully diagnose patients who present with back pain, perhaps the surgical approach did not work or the doctor is unwilling to put the time towards a conservative care approach. Do we really believe that taking a drug or getting surgery is always the answer. I’ll propose that instead of quackery, you are seeing the trend toward the future of medicine. And, that is that conservative care (non-drug, non-surgical treatment) is the approach that should be tried first with drugs and surgery used as a treatment-of-last-resort.
In terms of evidence, here are a few of the more recent articles from peer reviewed jounals (most are ranomized double-blind studies) you may want to check out on pubmed:
J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2004 Jul-Aug;27(6):388-98.
A randomized clinical trial comparing chiropractic adjustments to muscle relaxants for subacute low back pain
(“CONCLUSION: Chiropractic was more beneficial than placebo in reducing pain and more beneficial than either placebo or muscle relaxants in reducing GIS.”)
Spine. 2004 Jun 15;29(12):1346-51.
The use of muscle relaxant medications in acute low back pain.
(“CONCLUSIONS: Use of muscle relaxants was very common among patients with acute low back pain. Muscle relaxant use was not associated with more rapid functional recovery.”)
Spine. 2005 Jan 1;30(1):166.
Chronic spinal pain: a randomized clinical trial comparing medication, acupuncture, and spinal manipulation.
(“CONCLUSIONS: The consistency of the results provides, despite some discussed shortcomings of this study, evidence that in patients with chronic spinal pain, manipulation, if not contraindicated, results in greater short-term improvement than acupuncture or medication. However, the data do not strongly support the use of only manipulation, only acupuncture, or only nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs for the treatment of chronic spinal pain. The results from this exploratory study need confirmation from future larger studies.”)
J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2001 Feb;24(2):143-4.
A randomized controlled trial of chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy for migraine.
(“CONCLUSION: The results of this study support previous results showing that some people report significant improvement in migraines after chiropractic SMT. A high percentage (>80%) of participants reported stress as a major factor for their migraines. It appears probable that chiropractic care has an effect on the physical conditions related to stress and that in these people the effects of the migraine are reduced.”)
Since Dr. Edzard Ernst (professor of complementary and alternative medicine at Exeter University) was accused of faulty research and bias earlier in this thread, I thought others would be interested in reading some of Dr. Ernst’s thoughts on the subject of chiropractic. He references several comprehensive reviews by the highly respected Cochrane Collaboration:
*"Back pain is by far the condition most frequently treated by chiropractors. The Cochrane review of spinal manipulation for back pain summarised 39 clinical trials.1 The authors’ conclusions were very clear: ‘There is no evidence that spinal manipulative therapy is superior to other standard treatments for patients with acute or chronic low back pain.’
A Cochrane review of spinal manipulation and mobilisation for mechanical neck disorders evaluated 33 clinical trials.2 The authors found that, combined with exercise, these approaches were promising, but ‘the evidence did not favour manipulation and/or mobilisation done alone or in combination with various other physical medicine agents; when compared to one another, neither was superior.’2
Another Cochrane review summarised the available trials of chiropractic treatment for asthma.3 The authors found only two such studies and ‘neither trial found significant differences between chiropractic spinal manipulation and a sham manoeuvre on any of the outcomes measured.’ Finally, a Cochrane review assessed five trials of spinal manipulation for dysmenorrhoea.4 The authors concluded that ‘there is no evidence to suggest that spinal manipulation is effective in the treatment’ of this condition."*
Cochrane reviews offer far more solid evidence of a treatment’s effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) than limited single studies or case reports. It’s important to recognize that not all published studies are equally valid. The ones claiming effectiveness for chiropractic manipulation (particularly for such non-musculoskeletal conditions as infant colic, asthma and infertility) tend to be small, non-blinded/non-controlled studies that are published in chiropractic journals and never validated by quality research - which doesn’t stop chiropractors from trumpeting them in promotional literature and on their websites.
Speaking of which - chiropractic groups tend to get highly indignant whenever an article appears that is critical of some aspect of chiropractic. and letter writing/posting campaigns are undertaken in which the authors are predictably accused of bias and tu quoque attacks are made on mainstream medicine. I wonder if the “guest” comments we are seeing in this thread reflect publicity about Cecil’s column on some chiro site(s)?
I used to work for one of the big medical insurers. One thing I was involved with was the statistical analysis of chiropractic care.
After much analysis we decided that any chiropractor who saw his patients over six times on average (mean) for the same complaint should be dropped from the program. Short term chiropractic care (less than six visits) had positive outcomes. There were no better outcomes for doctors who treated patients long term than those that tended to treat a complaint. We only looked at back, neck sort or issues - the insurance company didn’t pay for treating ear infections through spinal manipulation so it wasn’t part of the study.
Granted, this was an insurer - they weren’t interested in paying more than they ought, but they thought chiropractors who saw their patients for extended care were milking the system.
I have another question on this topic.
After going to chiropractors for a while (during the 80s and 90s to manage my back pain), I noticed certain positions and movements that the chiropractors use to elicit loud popping noices, which would also coincide with a relief in pain.
I learned to mimic some of those motions on my own, mainly the ones where there’s a mild twisting on the spine. I only do this when my back is feeling stiff and sore. This morning I woke up around 2:00am with a sore back. I stretched my leg and back muscles a bit, and did some mild twists on the spine causing them to pop, and the popping provided some relief to the pain.
I’ve asked doctors before what that popping sound is, and I get a variety of responses. Some tell me it’s the same sound generated when you “crack your knuckles,” which is made when the co2 and liquid in the joints is remixed, or some such.
Other doctors say it’s ligaments and tendons that got out of place, and the sound is them being snapped back into place. Sound unlikely, but I feel bad arguing with someone who knows more about my body than I do. It seems weird that sitting still in a chair would cause ligaments and tendons to get out of place, and that twisting my back would cause loud popping noises which cause a relief to the stiffness and pain in my back.
So what is that loud popping noise?
How many chiropractors does it take to change a light bulb?
Just one, but it takes fifty visits!
From a knowledgeable evidence-based chiropractor:
*"…popping your neck and back will have no effect on your general health. When your muscles are tight and your spine is stiff, popping your back may provide relief by temporarily relaxing muscles and improving range of motion. The popping sound you hear is caused by slight separation of joint surfaces, but it does not mean that your vertebrae are out of place.
A normal joint can be popped by moving the joint a little beyond its normal range of movement into its “paraphysiologic space” to produce “cavitation.” While this is normally harmless, excessive popping might create a joint irritation that produces a sensation that the back needs to be popped again and again. Persons who believe that vertebrae pop because they are out of place may become psychologically addicted to manipulation and believe that the popping means that their vertebrae are being realigned."*
Sounds like gentle range-of-motion exercises are better for you than back (or neck) “popping”.
amazing how many people will pish posh chiropractics yet drool over drugs tested by people that stand to make billions of dollars over them if they sell. Yeah I’d rather have my health in the hands of a chiropractor than a pharcuedical company anyday. The list of side effects of almost any medicine is staggering. The short time I did accent to a doctors care they had me on six different medicines at the same time and then I really got sick. The sumac rash didn’t compare to a summer spent sitting because standing caused blackouts and I was weak. I am convinced that is was do to overmedication and it was done by one doctor not an accident because of many doctors involved. It took me a long time to recover. My chiropractor on the other hand gives me nearly immediate relief.
Go ahead take drugs and let the “real” doctors cut you up. I’ll stick to my chiropractor.
Good luck with the appendix, & the yeast infection. 
A what now?
This definitely sounds like something that could be fixed by a timely adjustment.
They wanted to “cut you up” for a sumac rash, instead of applying a little hydrocortisone cream? Man, those doctors will do anything in order to avoid making billions of dollars from pharmaceuticals.
Wait a minute… 
Appears as though precious little has improved in nearly 2000 years other than an improvement in medical propaganda techniques. It appears that the above also prevails in many other ailments. At this point in the game, unless I’m in outright agony or bleeding like a stuck pig, I steer clear of these white coated charlatans
Appears as though precious little has improved in nearly 2000 years other than an improvement in medical propaganda techniques. It appears that the above also prevails in many other ailments. At this point in the game, unless I’m in outright agony or bleeding like a stuck pig, I steer clear of these white coated charlatans.
Zombie thread?
Are you aware of the side effects of chiropractic adjustment? Horrifying.
Remember, bleeding always stops. And pain is relative.
There’s no reason to bother with them white-coated charlatans for anything. Stick with reiki.