[Pharmboy]

As a physician, I always thought little of the chiropractic. Then, about a dozen years ago, we rented a summer house from a couple--and she was a chiropractor. When we turned the house back to them, I asked her about my neck (that I could hardly tune enough to parallel park my car). She put me on the floor, cracked my neck and my life was changed.

As long as they don't try to treat allergies with spinal manipulations or advocate coffee enemas, they're fine with me.

[aculeus]

As long as they don't try to treat allergies with spinal manipulations or advocate coffee enemas, they're fine with me.

My own experience parallels yours.

Incidentally my last chiropractor went to prison for insurance fraud. He had a number of MDs working with him to "doctor" claims.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Any competent Osteopath could do that for you.

[Doctor Stochastic]

I've met some (OK, most) who were quacks. They claimed to cure diabetes, measles, etc., by spinal manulipation.

I've also mea a few who only claimed to be a sort of masseur. One told me his entire course was two years of anatomy but he didn't claim to do more than relieve stress. Most of his clients were long-haul truckers and football players.

[mountaineer]

I remember reading about a case where a woman told a chiropractor she was having trouble seeing. Instead of suggesting she have her eyes examined by an ophthalmologist or optometrist, he assured her he could fix the problem through chiropractic adjustment. In the course of performing that technique, he bruised her spinal cord, the woman collapsed and died.

Her family sued the D.C. and what I was reading was the appellate court's decision affirming the trial court's verdict against him.

[Peelod]

Be careful, Doc-

Stroke
May 2001 (Volume 32, Number 5)


Chiropractic Manipulation and Stroke: A Population-Based Case-Control Study

Rothwell DM, Bondy SJ, Williams I, et al.
Stroke. 2001;32(5):1054-1060

Dissection of the extracranial carotid or vertebral arteries can result in cerebral infarction. The injury may produce hemorrhage into the vessel wall leading to occlusion of the vessel or possible thrombus formation with subsequent embolization. In comparison to atherosclerotic stroke, the patients who suffer carotid or vertebral artery dissection tend to be younger in age and the injury may occur spontaneously or in association with trauma. Several case reports have suggested a link between vertebral artery dissection and chiropractic manipulation of the neck. In this new study, Rothwell and colleagues conducted a recent population-based, nested, case-control study to examine the possible association.
...

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/404178

[cyborg]

Coffee enemas are good for you :o)

[GVnana]

Here. Here. I was in a bad car accident several years ago, and yes, it was cuts and soft tissue injuries. My medical expenses were all covered and I was sent to all kinds of medical specialists who put me all kinds of contraptions for months on end. And I was told I would have to accept drugs as a permanent solution to the pain.

I saw a new MD on a different matter during all this and he wrote me a referral to a chiropractor. The chiropractor completely handled my case in a matter of weeks. I don't have pain and I don't live on drugs.

[Lanza]

I have been told chiropracters were quacks all my life (my mother being a nurse of the old school). Last year my neck was like yours after picking up something. I was unable to turn to the right without excruciating pain.

My mother thought I should see my regular doc and get some "muscle relaxers." My friend talked me into going to a chiropracter, and after my neck was adjusted I was fine. It was amazing. I had been living with the neck pain for weeks, and then it was gone.

[nonliberal]

I agree. I had constant back pain for about 15 years. It got so bad that I could barely walk around at the end of the day. I started seeing a chiropractor and it has been amazing. I just feel great and I am able to golf and lift weights without pain.

[Sgt_Schultze]

I have visited a chiropractor on several occasions. I have had my back "go out" from seemingly insignificant maneuvers. I think that such occurrences are like the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. For all the knowledge possessed by surgeons and GP's, they cannot know the extent of built-up stresses on an individual's body.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

As long as they don't try to treat allergies with spinal manipulations or advocate coffee enemas, they're fine with me.

I have to tell you that chiropractic treatment DID help my daughter afflicted with asthma, when it became apparent that her ribs were not in alignment with her spinal column. When the chiropractor popped them back into place, my daughter's breathing capacity went up about 15%.

Chiropractic also helps me with my muscle/skeletal tension headaches. I know for a FACT that when a particular disc is out of alignment in my spine I get searing headaches. As soon as it's popped back into place, the headache disappears. I'm a believer.

[Ditto]

As long as they don't try to treat allergies with spinal manipulations or advocate coffee enemas, they're fine with me.

Our family Doctor is an O.D. as opposed to M.D. and he does manipulations the same as a chiropractor. I have never needed it done, but my wife has it done occasionally for neck pain. Years ago, a surgeon told her she had bone spurs in her vertebra and would need to have her neck fused and she would just have to live with the pain until then.

The OD looked at the x-rays and said nonsense. He put her on the table and manipulated her neck and the pain was gone immediately. It lasted for a few years until she needed manipulated again.

It works.

[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.

[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.

[lolhelp]

I had the same problem and had been prescribed all kinds of pain ill, muscle relaxers and finally surgery. A Friend of mine talked me into going to a chiropractic clinic, he straightened it out in one session. It kept coming back and he started asking about how I did a lot different things, I had real long hair and he had me show him how I brushed it and I showed him and my neck was hurting by the time I got thru, he adjusted it again and showed me what I was doing wrong, Bingo! no more problems.

[varon]

She put me on the floor, cracked my neck and my life was changed.

Very interesting. Sounds like you've adjusted quite well to having your head face backwards ;-)

[Gunrunner2]

I was with you until I had my own experience.

Wrenched back from hi-G. Flt Docs could treat but with pills and such and the pain never really went away. Went to a D.O. and he poked, prodded and popped and the pain was gone.

Then a few years later, I had lower back problems after riding for over 2-hr in one of those very small commuter jets. I recalled the D.O. and how he helped by manipulation, but no D.O. nearby. So went to a Chiropractor and within two visits the pain was gone.

As long as they stay within the bounds of what they do and not intrude on traditional medicine, I am with them.

[patriot_wes]

I had an ankle injury that bothered me for ten years. Visits to conventional doctor were always "nothing much you can do, ankles take time to heal." I picked up my wife from an appointment with a chiropractor and I mentioned to the Dr. about my nuisance ankle problem. She scheduled 3 appointments. After the second one she said the ankle would be fine without the third appt. She was correct. In about three days my ankle felt strong as ever.

[VOA]

As a physician, I always thought little of the chiropractic.

For years I was told by lots of friends and family that they'd not take
their dog to a chiropractor.

THEN...I visited a girlfriend in Kansas City. Her mom had been in a bus
struck "amidships" by a car/truck.
Her mom had a sizeable "knot" in the side of her neck from the trauma and
had substantial pain. My inexpert eye would guess it was something like
a tight ball of muscle tissue that just wouldn't relax; or maybe an increible
"bruise" deep in the tissues.
She visited a small array of M.D.s; neurologists, surgeons...and none of them
would "touch" the thing. And they didn't give much hope of the
problem resolving by itself soon.

In quiet desparation, she went to a chiropractor.
After a few visits (over a couple of months)...the d-mned "knot" disappeared,
along with the pain.

If I hadn't seen this happen over the course of a couple of months...
I'd not have believed it happened.
(Of course, I do admit that maybe it was a problem that might have
resolved without treatment...but still...)

[longtermmemmory]

This is not about a school of chiropractic or the science or lack of science behind the practice. This is about a the FSU faculty being in a pissing match with the brother of the EEEEEEEEEEEvil President Bush.