Chiropractors

[Darth Wagtaros]

Chiropractics is based upon neither medicine nor science. The best descriptor would be a cult.

...says the guy trying to push "healing magnets"! 

Healing magnets are no less effective at curing pain than chiropractors. Plus they accessorize well.  ;D

Chiropractics is not based upon science. I see that you are avoiding this fact.

I woke up one morning to listen to a 'natural' cure peddler on the radio.  One her things was this plate you stand on that clears out all the negative ions from your body.  Made me feel almost pity for anybody stupid enough to buy one.  But the pity was quickly subsumed by contempt.

[The Brain]

Alternative medicine = fail. Western medicine ftw.

[Barrister]

I was once as ignorant and prejudiced against chiropractors as, say, Fate or Beeb.  I have learned differently from personal experience.

And I could point to a friend who had his leg paralyzed for a few weeks from a manipulatioin.  But you'd rightly point out that anecdotal evidence isn't a particularily effective form of argument.

[grumbler]

I'd have to say quackery. They make you feel good in the short term but do nothing for your back health in the long term. Yoga is better.

The fact that chiropractics do not permanently "cure" back conditions does not make the practice quackery.  Chiropractics relieve stress and pain in the back so that it can heal, and does so far more reliably (in my experience) than medicine.  It isn't a cure-all, and anyone that claims it is is engaged in quackery, just as anyone claiming that medicine is a cure-all is engaged in quackery.

Yoga is a form of physical therapy, and no more or less "scientific" than chiropractics.  It is better at maintaining back tone than chiropractics, but almost useless at alleviating acute conditions (which is where chiropractics shine).

[Vince]

Vince and Grumbler, perhaps you should look into healing magnets:

No way those screw up my tinfoil hats.   

[grumbler]

Exactly.  It is like boneheads who go see their doctor every year.  Why bother/  If the doctor was any good, he would make them permanently healthy, and if he isn't good there is no sense going to see him.

It's good to see that you're keeping it classy and not making it personal grumbler.

Irony isn't just the opposite of wrinkly!  ;D

I'm glad the chiro you went to only gave a few adjustments and stopped.  Obviously when speaking in generalities I can't speak for every chiro everywhere.  I have heard way too many stories of chiros prescribing a lifetime of adjustments such as Vince described.

I am glad that you have heard many stories, but saddened that you, supposedly training in logic as a lawyer, would stoop to the old "I never heard of it in my limited reading, so I will say it never happens." 

I am not the one taking absolute positions here.

[Barrister]

I am not the one taking absolute positions here.

You may consider the "never" in my statement cheerfully retracted.

[KRonn]

I think it depends on the chiropractor. I went to one who treated me with some manipulations but also with ultra-sound and other treatments. That helped, and seemed more designed to be flexible treatments depending on the injury or problem. Not just manipulations; some of what an orthopedic doctor or physical therapist might also do. Another one seemed to feel we should go every week or two for adjustments, which I don't agree with.

[Admiral Yi]

I vote go.

[DontSayBanana]

Chiropractors: There's both quacks and legits out there, just like "traditional" doctors. The chiropractor around the corner from me happens to also be licensed in sports medicine and radiology.

[Drakken]

Quacks.

[FunkMonk]

For a second I thought this thread was about dinosaurs. 
Then I learned how to read :-[

[DGuller]

My opinion is mixed, but tilts to "quack".  My dad had a numbness in his arm, and it was due to a pinched nerve in his spine.  His chiropractor seemed to fix it just fine, and in a couple of appointments.

However, after fixing that condition, he kept finding other things that needed fixing, and always by spine manipulation.  He also imparted the usual idiotic chiropractic theories on my dad, for which he is always a willing audience.  The more things the chiropractor found wrong with my dad and was starting to treat, the more frequently my dad's back has been seizing at random moments.

At first the appointments were covered by insurance.  After the insurance limit has been reached, the chiropractor was still willing to see my dad for just the co-pay.  Thankfully for my dad's back, he moved to another place, and it was too far to the guy's office in the new place.  He's been doing just fine without any further chiropractic therapy.

[DontSayBanana]

My opinion is mixed, but tilts to "quack".  My dad had a numbness in his arm, and it was due to a pinched nerve in his spine.  His chiropractor seemed to fix it just fine, and in a couple of appointments.

However, after fixing that condition, he kept finding other things that needed fixing, and always by spine manipulation.  He also imparted the usual idiotic chiropractic theories on my dad, for which he is always a willing audience.  The more things the chiropractor found wrong with my dad and was starting to treat, the more frequently my dad's back has been seizing at random moments.

At first the appointments were covered by insurance.  After the insurance limit has been reached, the chiropractor was still willing to see my dad for just the co-pay.  Thankfully for my dad's back, he moved to another place, and it was too far to the guy's office in the new place.  He's been doing just fine without any further chiropractic therapy.

That's a quack. My chiropractor was treating me for golfer's elbow (basically, tennis elbow on the other side of the joint), and he always did it at the site. Also, he treated my wrist, which was smashed and then disfigured when the orthopedic doctor fucked up, and again did it at the joint (the problem had nothing to do with spine, pinched nerves, or magnets... because there's a centimeter of bone missing from the inside of my wrist, the tendon isn't aligned properly).

I've actually had worse experiences with orthopedics being quacks than with chiropractors, but I guess I've been lucky on the latter.

[Razgovory]

For some reason I always think this has to do with Grasshoppers or Birds.