I guess maybe my chiro is different than the typical, because she’s of the same thought and we go over specific exercises for certain types of issues. She doesn’t just crack my back - in fact, that’s the smallest part of what she does. She’s more like a physical therapist than anything, but she is a Chiropractic Doctor (or whatever they’re called).
The MDs I work with do occasionally recommend chiropractic as well as acupuncture. Neither of them are panaceas but they can have their place. I agree with the poster above me that said a good chiro is similar to a physical therapist.
It is hard to find the perfect credible site to find a cite re: muscle spasms effect on bone, etc. Here are a couple links: (I need someone to tell me how to post a link so I can type over it in my post like everyone else does):
http://www.julstro.com/what_happens_exactly/
http://www.gadibody.com/treatments/lower-back-pain.php
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-does-lactic-acid-buil/
stroke from chiro adjustment of the neck:
http://washingtonchirotrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Cervical_manipulation_FAQs-FINAL.pdf
a neurologist who is also a chiro: hmmmm…why would an esteemed neurologist practice the quackery of chiropracty?
http://www.webmd.com/stroke/news/20030512/neck-cracking-raises-stroke-risk
Active Release worked a miracle on me about 10 years ago. I had a back pain that was nearly constant, like someone poked a needle under my shoulder blade. Had it for months, and no one could do anything about it. I had this guy who was studying Active Release work on it one afternoon and it was gone. Hurt like hell doing it, but damn if it didn’t work!!
None of those links supports the idea that chiros can get lactic acid out of muscles. In fact, your last link makes clear that lactic acid buildup is only responsible for pain/burning during intensive exercise, and has nothing to do with lingering soreness/pain that might cause some people to visit a chiro.
It helps when posting links to make sure they are relevant to the point you’re trying to make.
It would also help if this stuff was in any way relevant to whether it’s advisable to have a chiro “adjust” your neck.
I don’t know. Why does Dr. Oz promote all kinds of ridiculous practices, beliefs and products on his TV show?
Yeah, I had active release on a pretty serious quad injury a number of years ago, and similar to you, it fixed it right up (but hurt like hell and left a wicked bruise).
Yes, they can make adjustments with precision. When you crack your neck yourself, you’re just making a sound. When a chiropractor does it, they are moving it into a new position, and it usually takes several treatments for it to stay there.
Here’s how my 1 year treatment went:
- X-rays showed a displacement in my spine that had been bothering me for 30 years, so that I couldn’t sit in a chair without moving around constantly.
- The initial treatments corrected the subluxation (spine displacement).
- New issues were found after the spinal subluxation was corrected. What was explained to me is that your mind focuses on the biggest pain, and ignores other pains in the same area. Corrections had to be done to my shoulders, lower back, ribs, joints, etc.
- As treatment continues, tendons are loosened to allow bones to be moved. This loosening causes other displacements. I had one joint in my back that kept popping out causing excruciating pain, when I was doing things as innocent as taking laundry out of the machine.
- Treatments slowed down to about 1 per month or every 3 months.
- As pain stopped, I just went in on an emergency basis, e.g. #4 above.
So in summary, chiropractic works if you need chiropractic, ie. your bones are in the wrong position.
Those arent really cites for what you were claiming.
Oops. Damn phone. I meant to quote Coco173.
IANA physician, but an anti-anxiolytic and a NSAID seems like a good treatment for back pain. The Valium would reduce the patient’s stress and relax them in general and possibly relax muscles directly, and the Celebrex would act much like a stronger version of ibuprofen or aspirin would. Its analgesic effects would directly relieve pain, and if there was any associated inflammation, it would knock that back as well.
My guess is that if there’s something actually wrong with your muscles and joints, you probably need to be evaluated by an orthopedic surgeon, and prescribed a course of physical therapy, instead of going to a chiropractor. Even if chiropractors are a lot like physical therapists, their goals are different- chiropractors make a lot of hay out of adjustments which are questionable, IMO. Physical therapists are much more concerned with things like stretching, exercise and proper form and function of motions and activities.
So if a chiro gives you an adjustment, a physical therapist might give you some stretching and strengthening exercises, along with some exercises that make you walk/sit/etc… properly so that you quit having the pain.
Problem is, most people are big enough pussies and want instant gratification, so that a 5 week course of PT with at-home exercises isn’t what they want, so they go get adjusted, and the problem keeps coming back.
My chiropractor always gives me stretches to do to help prevent injuries. I think most of the good ones do. Problem is, there are probably more bad than good ones out there. If you go the chiropractor route, be sure to find a good one!
Your chiropractor would be pleased that you’ve fallen for the chiro mantra - including the belief that chiropractic subluxations are real and can be demonstrated on x-rays (false)*, accepting the fantasy that humans are plastic enough for bones to be moved into entirely new positions and that continued pain isn’t a sign that the treatment has been ineffective, but that it somehow reflects the body adapting in a bizarre kind of healing mode.
It sounds like you’re well on the road to being a lifetime [del]income source[/del] patient.
*there’s actually a debate of sorts among chiropractors on whether to stop teaching students about imaginary subluxations, with elements in the chiro academic community suggesting the time has come to eliminate this pseudoscientific foundation of chiropractic, and practitioners doggedly resisting.
So if one of your bones pops out of your joint, it’s imaginary? I guess my chiropractor didn’t need to put it back in, he just could have shown me an xray of a non-popped joint and I would be fine?
Chiros generally aren’t in the business of reducing dislocated joints and providing the necessary aftercare. What yours apparently sold you on is that there are “subluxations” (which cannot be detected on x-rays) where bones are mysteriously “out of position” and which somehow can be restored to their God-intended positions by chiro adjustments. Whatever benefits patients may perceive from their chiro visits, this isn’t one of them.
If on the other hand the chiro is wrenching hard enough to dislocate a joint or break a bone (I’ve seen an ER patient with the latter issue), then they can move bones into new positions, only you really don’t want that.
I married a Physical Therapist. Please do not go in to a PT office and claim they are “a lot like chriopractors” (not picking on you, Bump, several posters have said the same). They are not and will quickly let you know that - different course of study, one must have a referral from an MD to see a PT, different approach to healing, etc, etc, ad nauseum. In fact, one of the worst things you can say to a PT is that they are “like a chiropractor”. For example, a PT will never indicate that they can cure a disease, many chiro’s do. About the only similarity is that both use some “hands on” techniques.
That said, my wife does not hold forth that chrio is never any good. If you can find one who works with MDs and does not purport to cure disease or try to put you on a “once per month for life” visit plan you may get some benefit - if for nothing else than deep tissue massage. My grandparents went to a chiro for years and swore by it. Of course, they also ate lard and fatback and still lived into their 90’s, but I wouldn’t recommend that plan either.
Rant over. Standard disclaimer, IANAD
Was that covered by insurance?
I used to have chronic problems with my neck. I’d get muscle spasms that would be excruciatingly painful, and I would barely be able to turn my head. It happened 3 or 4 times per year, and would last about a week. This happened from the time I was 17 or 18 up until a couple years ago. I invested about 4 months going to a chiropractor 2 times a week.
It’s been about 2 years and 4 months since I completed my course of treatment, and I have not had my neck problem even once since. Prior to this experience, I did not ‘believe’ in chiropractic care as real doctoring. I don’t know that they can do everything they claim (my Chiro, for example, claims he can “cure allergies”, which I find absurd at best and unethical at worst), but I’m glad I took the leap of faith and let him treat me.
The ‘adjustments’ he performed were not anything I’d have been able to do to myself, though he taught me a neck-stretching exercise that I do occasionally as part of my post-treatment homework.
“Blowing off” is not reimbursable by most medical plans, unless a specialist in blowing off is consulted.
Side note: if you’re referring here to a Doctor of Osteopathy, that’s a DO. An OD is a Doctor of Optometry, and if one of those tries to crack your neck for you, I think you’re within your rights to give him a face full of pepper spray. 