Chiropractic school angers FSU professors

St. Petersburg Times ^ | December 29, 2004 | By RON MATUS, Times Staff Writer

[GVnana]

I have to say, I was very surprised when I got a referral to a chiropractor from an MD, because I know about the professional antipathy. I even queried the doctor. He told me bluntly I had pelvic displacement, hip and knee displacements, (more torn ligments than I care to remember)and my veterbrae from the waist down looked like jigsaw puzzle pieces. He just bluntly said the injuries were skeletal and that's what chiropractors do!

[AnAmericanMother]

I'll stand with you on this one.

My mom has a dreadful back problem - she was (still is) a professional dancer and has been for 60 years. That puts a lot of strain on your back. She's had multiple laminectomies, fusions, the works. So our whole family has perforce gotten educated on this issue.

Chiropractic (from a reputable guy, not a quack) gave her temporary relief from pain, but here's the problem: your spine is supported by the ligaments that run alongside the vertebrae. Repeated frequent chiropractic adjustments stretch those ligaments, so the vertebrae are not held in place any more and fall out of alignment more easily. So you get temporary relief but you're setting yourself up for a long term problem.

On the other hand, a friend of mine who was paralyzed by polio back in the 40s began having phantom pains in his legs recently. The M.D.s couldn't do anything but throw pain pills at him, so he went to a chiropractor (and this is a guy who has condemned all chiros as quacks his whole life long.) He said, "I still think they're quacks, but I don't hurt any more."

I think careful occasional use (after using a conventional neurologist/orthopedist to rule out serious problems - which is probably what happened to your dad) is probably o.k. But the auto accident/3x week adjustments are a prescription for dependency and disaster.

[Gorzaloon]

I knew 2 chiropractors. They were BOTH egotistical and obnoxious..and think they were like Gods.....I think it's because they think they were real Doctors and better than the rest of us.

I have met a couple who were experts on many other subjects, as well. All Subjects.

I met them socially, not professionally. If I want Physical Therapy, I will stick to mainstream medicine. There are some really goofy beliefs floated by many of them. The ones I met were really offended by my pronounciation of their "profession" as "Pyroquacktic".

I can buy a Quartz Healing Crystal for the same price as one of their office visits- And THAT cures cancer, bilious humours, phlegmatic complaints, ague, scrofula, and plague, too.

[rlmorel]

A good, well trained chiropractor will not perform any adjustment on a patient until they have performed a complete physical exam, and in most (if not all cases) taken an xray to rule out conditions that might preclude chiropractic treatment.

RFEngineer, the only point that was proved was that you were associating with a poorly/untrained chiropractor who was no better than a quack.

If we were to take the implications of this thread, because you were helping him fix his computer, you were aiding and abetting him in his fraudulent billing. (I'm just being polemic here, it seems to fit this thread)

So, the Chiropractor did the RIGHT thing by sending the guy to a surgeon with his torn Achilles tendon? How does that reflect badly on him? (And I am sure this was all pre-HIPPA days...)

[mountainlyons]

I have had two ruptured discs in my back and the best way to treat them is by a Chiropractor. Only 2% of ruptured discs had pain reduction by surgery. I have a bad back and I have to be careful but I do more than some younger kids. Don't doctors kill 120,000 a year by bad drug use?

[rlmorel]

"I knew 2 chiropractors. They were BOTH egotistical and obnoxious..and think they were like Gods.....I think it's because they think they were real Doctors and better than the rest of us."

Gee, your description sounds like a lot of MEDICAL DOCTORS I have met in the workplace!

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Coffee enemas are good for you :o)

They give you lots of that, "get up and go" feeling.

[dljordan]

I was in a wreck several years ago and after a few weeks couldn't move my neck. My mom sent me to a Chiropractor (I'd never been to one before) and CRACK it got better immediately. I certainly don't believe they can cure everything though.

[rlmorel]

And that clearly includes conventional medicine.

Many people (like some who post to this thread) still have the Doctor-God complex.

Let me tell you. Anyone can graduate from Medical School. You don't have to be God, and you don't have to be brilliant, or even exceptionally smart. But you do have to work hard, and you do have to be determined.

They have a saying: "50% of the doctors graduate in the lower half of their class."

That is, someone has to be at the bottom. Some doctors are better than others, and the same case goes with any profession, including chiropractic.

[Wolfie]

I'm pretty surprised by the blanket condemnations here.

Must be your first chiro-related thread. ;)

You should check out the flame-wars on an Atkins diet thread. Those are fun too.

[reg45]

"Coffee enemas are good for you"

Regular or decaffinated, and would that be with cream and sugar?

Latte Grande - Coming soon to a Starbucks near you!

Yuck!

[Sgt_Schultze]

The state of "modern" medicine offered by "real" doctors is in a constant state of change. At one time, long ago, "modern" medicine opened the human body without sterilized equipment and in less than sanitary environments. At one time, "modern" medicine bled people with leaches as treatments for diseases. At one time, "modern" medicine thought it reasonable to perform lobotomies on mental patients.

Not long ago, "modern" medicine did not believe that a virus could live inside the human stomach and cause ulcers. Currently, "modern" medicine believes that most schoolage boys are inflicted with something called ADD or ADHD and require regular doses of anphetamines. This "disease" is most prevalent within the environs of "modern" medicine in the U.S.

Don't be so quick to label others as quacks when your own profession's history is littered with what would now acknowledged as quackery.

[Wolfie]

They give you lots of that, "get up and go" feeling.

More like "sit down and go". But they are good to the last "drop". ;)

[Luigi Vasellini]

Chiropractors do not get the same medical education as DO's or MD's!! However I think that chiropractors do a genuine service and belong at a university. It is more similar to physical therapy.

[PatrickHenry]

Note the large building in lower right hand corner.

Ah yes. I was looking for it even before I read your post.

[longshadow]

I've also mea a few who only claimed to be a sort of masseur.

They were at least partially honest. The truly honorable thing for them to do, having realized that Chiropractic, as a science-based medical treatment, is a fraud, would be to chuck their Chiropractic Diplomas in the dumpster along with the rest of the worthless diplomas from places like Hamilton University, and go get a certificate in physical therapy.

But to call themselves "doctors" is to add insult to injury.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

But they are good to the last "drop". ;)

And everything comes out all right at the end.

[Talking_Mouse]

Of course. Chiropractic "treatment" is like the Hotel California. You can never leave, and you're never cured - at least as long as the insurance keeps paying. I would contrast that to my own recent experience with excruciating lower back pain. My M.D. prescribed a few sessions with a physical therapist - no expensive dangerous drugs - and after a few weeks I had regained full mobility and was almost completely pain-free, and haven't had to go back for additional treatment.

I'm glad you are pain-free. My experience with chiropractors is different than your expectation. I was hit by a car while crossing a crosswalk. My doctor sent me to a chiropractor since all I had was soft tissue damage. At my first visit the chiropractor told me I was in for 6 to 8 visits, depending on how I responded, but it would be no more than 9 visits total. She also told me at that first consultation that if I ever saw a chiropractor who told me I needed regular spinal adjustments that I should immediately walk out because that person was a quack.

I had 7 visits with the chiropractor, 6 visits with a massage therapist, and 3 visits with the doctor. All of these people deferred billing until I was done with the treatment, then billed the car insurance of the woman who hit me. I have not seen a chiropractor since. I admit that I will treat myself to a massage once in a while, however that has nothing to do with being hit by the car.

[Shisan]

Happy New Year Doc.
Have you ever read (it's in the books and elsewhere) of vertebral artery tear secondary to chiropractic manipulation of the cervical spine? Get out your old Gray;s and review.

[Uncledave]

Chiropractors do not get the same medical education as DO's or MD's!!

Not true. The beginning semesters of preclinical classwork in chiropractic school are practically the same as in medical school: Gross Anatomy, Biochem, etc.

Here's the curriculum at New York Chiropractic College: http://www.nycc.edu/acadaffairs/dc_curriculum.pdf

After the precilincal studies prospective MD's and Chiro's branch off into their respective practical studies.