chiropractors
 

My back is killing me and I was thinking of seeing a chiro. What is the story with these guys??? Some say miracle workers while others say scammmers.... Do they help???

Re: chiropractors
 

I've had very bad experiences in the past. Try a massage therapist first.

Re: chiropractors
 

Witchdoctors.

Re: chiropractors
 

physical therapy is probably a better option

Re: chiropractors
 

Doctors mostly concentrate on the front.
"yeah, there is alot of neat stuff on the front"

Re: chiropractors
 

Chiropractors are worth trying for BACK pain. Although, if he/she starts talking about "subluxations" and urges you to immediately get on a chiropractic maintenance routine, I would run. Run away very fast.

Re: chiropractors
 

Like you said, some people say miracle workers, some say quacks. I've never been able to discern whether the difference was in the individual chiropractors or the ailment you go in with, but I'm guessing probably it's some of both. I'd first try to find out what your specific back problem is and whether it's something a chiropractor can help with, then get recommendations for specific chiropractors.

Re: chiropractors
 

Meh, I had some pretty brutal back pain (like lifting ~100 lbs and while running) and I think my end result of self-therapy was that I might've tweaked my back at some period in the past (18 months?) and then neglected to ever work my back from that point on since it hurt and, obviously, it just got really weak and worse. I just slowly worked my way through the problem much like some other people who have injuries and now its all better.

Re: chiropractors
 

Well, I'll be the pro chiropracter camp then.

I've had huge problems with my lower back, so bad that I was hardly able to stand up after a night's sleep. I went to two doctors and two other physical therapeuts and they couldn't do anything other than pump me full with pain killers and tell me how to lift stuff up properly.

I finally went to see a chiropracter about it. My father had some chiropracter he would drive 500 miles to go and see back in the day, so I thought I'd give it a shot.
Apart from the more general things he advised which the other professionals also advised (like lying position, posture things, the way I pick up stuff, etc) he was also able to get rid of my back pain in just two sessions. No painkillers involved.

He also corrected some weird misalignment that I had due to a previous injury that happened 4 years prior to my visit. None of the other professionals even spotted that.
That misalignment was basically that while lying straight on my back, I could turn my feet to the left only to about a 30-40 degree angle, to the right I was able to turn them to around 70ish. I've never even noticed that before.
Now the weird part happened, he just pressed some points around my shoulders, and neck while telling my how to breath. Weird stuff.
After that I was able to turn my feet in both directions tothe same angle. Now that is witchcraft. Don't ask me how that worked, but it worked for me. Even if it's purely psychological, I don't mind getting rid of the problems that way.

Re: chiropractors
 

I think it's a really tough question. the post above indicates a good outcome. Good outcomes are documented well enough that some major insurers cover chirop's. years ago I temped in a Phys Medicine and Rehab (acute inpatient) hospital, and these 3 serious MDs made chirop referrals.

But, I also had two friends go to chirop school, and they came out talking about curing asthmas with neck manipulations and all sorts of world view ideology. I think the field varies a lot state to state and practitioner to practitioner. But the bread and butter in the field seems to be basically a cracking knuckles sort of effect that they refuse "on principle" (ie, self-delusion) to subject to empirical testing or measurement for results.