Indeed they are and equally rigorous, as is the qualifying education. I’m sorry if I didn’t reflect my equal respect for both.
Apart from the fact that chiropractic is really stupid, and works nothing like what they pretend it does, chiropractic back manipulation is at least as effective as other methods of treating back pain.
Admittedly, that’s a low bar, but a medical review of back treatment outcomes for different therapies found that family doctors should not be recommending against chiropody, since the numbers seemed to show that the outcome was slightly better than other treatments.
They didn’t go so far as to suggest recommending chiropody, but they suggested that unless you were sure some other therapy would be better, there was no good reason for try to stop a back patient who wanted chiropractic spine manipulation.
Thanks everyone, and I’m glad I asked! Some of my neighbors on Nextdoor have recommended an apparently excellent optometrist in the area, so I’ve made an appointment. She must be good, because she is very busy, and my appointment is December 17.
I agree. I think they can offer relief for back pain. I was referring to the ones for hook people into lifelong ‘adjustments’, which really only adjust the chiropractors bottom line in his/her favor. Or the ones who say newborns need adjusting. Or they ones who say they can treat diabetes, etc as well as MDs or DOs.
I am sure the benefits can accrue for back pain through the careful laying on of hands and reflected empathy, as well as manipulations and treatments, such as physical therapists can also do.
Optometrist is fine. My opto handles my diabetic eye exams. If there was something he couldn’t handle he would send me to the ophthalmologist.
I’m going to go against the tide and say go to an ophthalmologist, all things being equal. My ophthalmologist checks my vision and prescribes glasses. He also did both my cataract surgeries.
I’d recommend an optometrist, and they will refer you to an ophthalmologist if warranted.
I have a hereditary and unrepeatable eye disease (Retinitis Pigmentosa) which was first detected at age 45 during a general checkup by my every-day doctor. It could have been noticed a decade or two earlier by an optometrist, but wasn’t. Doc got his light out and glanced in my eye and said Holy Smokes and referred me to an ophthal.
Take that for what it’s worth. An optometrist is a guy who hires girls to sell eyeglasses for him.
Nitpick: as I’m sure you know, ‘chiropody’ is for foot issues, not the same thing as chiropractic.
I share your scepticism, but I have to admit that a local chiropractor did a lot to help both our boys with digestive issues when they were 3-6 months old. As you say, mainly through careful manipulation, but I wouldn’t trust myself to do that on such a young baby. I think they were one of the good ones rather than one of the quacks.
If you have not had your eyes checked in 30 years, you should be looking for more than just a vision correction test. You really should get your eyes dilated, and examined for hemorrhage, macular degeneration and retinal detachment. Many ophthalmologists will also photograph the eyeball, which can reveal circulation deficiencies. During my last visit, the ophthalmologist was able to photograph two small hemorrhages which were too tiny to be seen manually.
If you have been having regular eye check-ups, and are not experiencing a new problem, I’d say just go to the optometrist. In your case I’d say get with a good ophthalmologist first.
A decent optometrist does all of those checks and tests, or at least offers them and then refers for surgical treatment or involved medical treatment beyond their scope to an ophthalmologist. Optometrists often have far, far shorter waiting times for an appt so you can get that critical screening much more quickly, potentially preventing problems.
If you choose an ophthalmologist, ask when you make an appointment whether they write prescriptions for eyeglasses; there’s a lot of variation from practice to practice and region to region. In my locale, it’s not at all unusual for the ophthalmologist to have a 3 to 6 month wait for an appointment (unless you are being referred, for example from your primary care doctor or an optometrist), and then many of them don’t write eyeglasses prescriptions anyway.
Meanwhile, you can usually find an optometrist who can see you within a couple of weeks for a routine eye exam, and if that detects anything odd (or the glasses don’t help you), he or she can usually get you in to see the specialist much sooner than if you cold-called their office.
Thank you.
Chiropractic: treatment using the hands.
Chiropody: treatment of the hand and foot.
Podiatry: treatment of the foot.
Not a word used much in Australia. Do Chiropodists ever actually fix hands in Canada/USA ?
That’s an optician, not an optometrist. And who knows, she might hire guys to sell eyeglasses for her.
Probably said by someone already:
Go see an optometrist. If you need to see an ophthalmologist the optometrist will let you know.
If you choose an optometrist, ask when you make an appointment whether they do eye examinations
In my (foreign) location, ophthalmologists don’t do optometry, and optometrists do basic ophthalmometry, but they don’t do a full eye examination every time you get a new prescription. I should be asked when making an appointment at a new optometrist: they need a longer appointment for that.
Also, 20 years ago, not everybody here had equipment to do a field-of-vision test. It’s standard now, but you can always ask.
Thank you, what you say is correct . In my experience, though, optometrists and sales staff are both employees of opticians. The optician is largely a fashion industry, so (here in flyover states) the employees are mostly still girls, and readily identifiable as such.
“Girls”? Either they are hiring 16-year-olds, or you might consider updating your language. If they are over 18 but youthful in appearance, there is always “young women” to employ as an alternative, and more accurate, term.
This is sexist and inaccurate.
Also, if your optometrist missed something very obviously wrong with your eyes, then they are incompetent. Instead of disparaging the profession, I hope you reported it to your state board.
I don’t know how much this varies regionally, but my eye doctor, who is a doctor of optometry, does a very thorough exam that includes all of this – except, if you do the high res. photo, then I don’t need to have my pupils dilated. Some of it varies with insurance, too. My vision insurance doesn’t pay for the photo of my retina, so I pay $25 out of pocket so I don’t have to have my pupils dilated because that’s a pain.
I always get a visual field test, glaucoma test, thorough looking at with the scope, some machine that measures vision – maybe it measures rough shape of the eyeball? And lately also a test of dryness of my eyes. Then I also get the refraction test for my glasses prescription. Find a thorough doctor of optometry.
Oh, and when my presbyopia first started, my eye doctor recommended against glasses, and instead recommended some exercises because I still had the ability to get my eyes to focus better with effort. So she recommended some exercises that allowed me to put off needing glasses for several years. She was not just looking to sell me glasses.
What are you calling an NP? A nurse practitioner, or a naturopath?