Chiropractors

[viper37]

If those x-rays are correct and being read accurately, that is if you have an actual neck problem, you REALLY need to go see a real doctor about it. As others have pointed out, there's a relative limit to the harm these quacks can do to the lower elements of your back, but the neck is serious shit.

ah yes, sitting on a chair for 4hrs and then seeing a doctor telling him he needs surgery with a 65% chance of paralysis will greatly improve his conditions...

[Barrister]

Hunting around a bit for chiro articles (why?  I don't know.  I have plenty of real work to do).  Hard to find completely unbiased articles.

This one (which is hosted on an anti-chiro site in the interests of full disclosure) seems fair in that the author recognizes some benefit to chiro therapy, and gives some guildelines for when looking for a chiro.

http://www.chirobase.org/01General/controversy.html

Consumer Guidelines
The SMT skill of chiropractors varies among individual practitioners. Chiropractic is a cottage industry without an arena that permits critical peer review like that hospitals provide for medical doctors.

When evaluating a chiropractor's claims, it is useful to ask him or her what diseases chiropractic adjustments cannot benefit. A rational practitioner will readily admit to great limitations in treating anything other than musculoskeletal problems. A less rational chiropractor may answer by dodging the question with a response such as "I treat only people who have spines," or "I don't treat diseases; I treat people." Such answers avoid the question and/or represent a belief in the subluxation theory.

There is no agency that can tell how good an individual chiropractor is as a spinal manipulative therapist. Consumers must generally rely upon the practitioner's local reputation. When choosing a chiropractor, consumers should exercise great caution and consider the following guidelines.

1. Have the problem evaluated by a medical doctor first. Have underlying serious illnesses ruled out before deciding that the problem is neuromusculoskeletal. Heart disease, cancer, kidney dis' ease, and other serious problems that need prompt medical care may manifest themselves as back pain and dysfunction. Don't allow an overzealous, inadequately trained chiropractor to keep you from prompt diagnosis and care. If the chiropractor recommends X-rays, have them done by a radiologist.

2. If you decide to try SMT, inform your doctor. Ask if there is any reason you should not have SMT (osteoporosis is one common contraindication). if not, ask for his or her help in locating the most skillful practitioner in the area (physiatrist, physical therapist, chiropractor, etc.). Some doctors feel that SMT hasn't been scientifically proven effective, but most are willing to go along with a patient who wishes to give it a try.

3. Remember that the main value of SMT lies in the rapidity of the relief it provides. If you have not experienced significant relief within three weeks, discontinue SMT. Do not submit to long-term care. Do not sign a contract. And do not accept the idea of preventive chiropractic care. Education about how to prevent back problems by safe lifting techniques, proper exercise, and ergogenics (analyzing and redesigning the workplace to avoid injuries) is valuable.

4. Avoid practitioners who:

Appear overconfident or cultist in their zeal for chiropractic care
Disparage regular medicine as jealously antichiropractic
Criticize prescription drugs or surgery in an ideological manner
Attack immunization, fluoridation, pasteurization, or other public health practices
X-ray all of their patients, or routinely use full-spine x-rays.
Use scare tactics such as claiming that the failure to undergo chiropractic care could lead to serious problems in the future
Sell herbs or dietary supplements
Perform colonic irrigations. These have no medical value and can be dangerous [23].
Claim that subluxations exist and that their correction is important.
5. Children should not be treated by chiropractors. There are no childhood conditions that chiropractors are better qualified than physicians to treat.

The bolding is mine, and is the one part of PRCs story that caused me some concern.  I've definitely read that such "full spine x-rays" are medically meaningless and used as a sales pitch by chiros.

[DGuller]

If those x-rays are correct and being read accurately, that is if you have an actual neck problem, you REALLY need to go see a real doctor about it. As others have pointed out, there's a relative limit to the harm these quacks can do to the lower elements of your back, but the neck is serious shit.

ah yes, sitting on a chair for 4hrs and then seeing a doctor telling him he needs surgery with a 65% chance of paralysis will greatly improve his conditions...

Paralysis would cure the back pain, I would think.

[grumbler]

Hunting around a bit for chiro articles (why?  I don't know.  I have plenty of real work to do).  Hard to find completely unbiased articles.

This one (which is hosted on an anti-chiro site in the interests of full disclosure) seems fair in that the author recognizes some benefit to chiro therapy, and gives some guildelines for when looking for a chiro.

This is probably as good a summary as I have seen.  It also fits with my experience (which, in two cases, was a result of doctors simply unable to treat what was wrong, and a chiroptactor who could).  Lots of bad chiropractors seem to be poisoning the well.  Thinking first of chiropractics to solve a roblem is nuts.  If anything, Chiropractors are specialists who should be treated if a GP cannot solve the problem.  In my cases, my doctor approved of seeking chiropractic help.

[DontSayBanana]

This is probably as good a summary as I have seen.  It also fits with my experience (which, in two cases, was a result of doctors simply unable to treat what was wrong, and a chiroptactor who could).  Lots of bad chiropractors seem to be poisoning the well.  Thinking first of chiropractics to solve a roblem is nuts.  If anything, Chiropractors are specialists who should be treated if a GP cannot solve the problem.  In my cases, my doctor approved of seeking chiropractic help.

Yeah. That's the meat of it. A good chiropractor is a specialist; a bad chiropractor is a wannabe GP with delusions of grandeur.

[viper37]

Paralysis would cure the back pain, I would think.

ah, yes, creating another problem to solve the existing one

[Neil]

No idea.  Never really paid much attention.  They just struck me as a kind of physiotherapist.

[crazy canuck]

I went to a chiropractor when my Doctor suggested I go to treat a specific alignment problem.  The problem was fixed in a couple sessions.