Ooh, I’m not sure I should even respond to this thread, cause I definitely don’t want to cause any issue with those who regularly see a chiro and have a positive experience with them.
But my take is most of them don’t know shyt about back issues. I started going to one back in the mid ‘90s when my back pain first started to really affect every day life for me.
The chiro would tell me things like ‘oh, I can see several vertebrae sticking out, and your back is totally out of alignment.’ And then he told me my right leg was an inch longer than my left, which was the cause of pulling my back out of alignment. So he was going to have to really concentrate on extending my left leg to get me back to proper alignment. Huh?
But after each back and neck cracking session, my back pain for the next several days up to a couple of weeks, ramped up severely and I was in even more pain than before I had shown up there for treatment.
I stopped going after only 2 sessions (he said I’d need at a minimum 6-8 sessions to get my back in correct alignment).
Next step was to go see a real M.D.
After several Dr and Neurologists visits later through the years, still always in pain, and then after 4 surgeries and 2 fusions that failed to do anything for the increasingly debilitating pain, I finally was correctly diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis by my Rheumatologist that my PMD had referred me to go see. It’s a painful disease, often hereditary - my grandmother also had it.
I am now on a biologic to slow the excess bone growth down, and hopefully won’t end up with a solid spine that curves me forward at the shoulders like it did to my grandmother.
Not to make this too long, but this chiro completely wasted my time, made me worse after each visit, and no - he didn’t correctly diagnose my issue. But he happily took my money.
I personally would caution others not to put too much faith into these quack chiropractors. If you walk through their door, of course they’re gonna be able to determine what your issue is, and they’ll always tell you it can’t be fixed in just one visit.
Also, my wife’s an RN and worked for 20 years in our local hospital’s ER unit. She’s seen more than a few people rushed in by ambulance over the years where the patient suffered a tear in one of the major arteries in their neck from the chiro when they jerk your head side to side to crack the joints in your neck. A couple of those patients ended up having a stroke, since the blood wasn’t reaching their brain.
Sufficed to say, in all of those cases the chiro basically destroyed these peoples lives, and they’ve all gone on to sue - and easily win their case in court, for the pain and suffering caused by the chiro’s actions. (She now manages/ runs this hospital’s Stroke program, and works with several of those people whose stroke was caused by this scenario).
I don’t mean to say that a chiro can’t help anyone, but I personally would never ever go to one again myself, nor recommend to an acquaintance/ family member or friend to see one for their back issues.
Instead, I tell them to to their regular doc, tell them what your symptoms are, and let them decide what the best course of action would be for you. Often they’re going to refer you to a specialist who can take a closer look and help properly diagnose you based on your symptoms, and it will often times be some form of physical therapy, unless it’s more severe such as herniated discs. Then it could be a round of a steroid taper and/ or some other meds to calm down whatever injury is the cause of inflammation. But I haven’t heard of one of them ever recommending someone to go see a chiropractor. Though I’m sure that could happen for some.
I just hear from more people who have had worsening back problems after seeing their chiropractor, than others who say after seeing them they are doing way better.
Just my opinion... but I think they can cause more harm to you than good. I’m sure there’s some here who would argue otherwise. And if that’s the case, I am happy that they’ve been able to help improve your suffering. But if you don’t get better, then maybe it’s time to go see a real Dr. And you’re right
@Inspector Lewis, back issues is a very complex problem to diagnose properly. And if you don’t suffer from chronic back pain, you probably don’t know how debilitating it is to the lives of those of us who do live with it.
All the best to you and I truly hope you find relief as well.