We recently had a work lunch with a Chiropractor promoting his services and he mentioned that with his services he can optimize one’s performance athletically through his adjustments and other health services. Does anyone use these types of services and comment on how it helps them?
I guess that would be a “no”
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I went because of hip/back problems. That was resolved years ago. I now go twice a month so the problems don’t come back. However, my Chiropractor is an actual MD, so he takes X-rays, prescribes drugs, etc. as needed.
I don’t believe in Quackapracters. Of course they’ll tell you that they do wonders. So does every other similar quack. Near as I can figure, they work on faith and if that works for you then great, no problem. And, if I were suffering, long term from something I would try whatever I could to seek relief, likely even a Quackapracter. But at this point no one is going to wrench on my neck. FAR too much risk of permanent injury.
We recently had a work lunch with a Chiropractor promoting his services and he mentioned that with his services he can optimize one’s performance athletically through his adjustments and other health services. Does anyone use these types of services and comment on how it helps them?
This would be the key… he’s angling for work. As an engineer, I can totally appreciate that any athlete might have underlying skeletal alignment issues or functional differences and that it would provide a long term benefit to the athlete, to fix those. However, what I mostly hear from people that use chiropractors is that the chiropractor “adjusts” things and that’s all. On the other hand, a sports physiotherapist will look at the situation and prescribe you a development program whereby you can, over time, correct the underlying causes for the misalignments or functional differences.
So it depends on what his “other health services” are. I would not go for “adjustment” unless there was a good reason.
Chiropractics has it’s time and place. Most of them just want you in the door once a month for an “adjustment”. Some of them even sell snake oil.
I had chronic low back pain for awhile. I see a chiro every 2 weeks now as a maintenance thing… haven’t had any back pain since starting chiro.
becuase my insurance covers it, it cost me $7 a visit, i go there to get a $7 massage.
I have a sports chiro that see sometimes, mainly for soft tissue work like Graston and ART. He is pretty progressive and goes way beyond back cracking and making “adjustments”. I’ve found it very useful for things like IT band issues, bicep tendonitis, and even plantar fasciitis. I also know others who swear by him for addressing shin splints.
Having a sports related education and training background is a big plus. Many options (as one would find in “mainstream” therapy) are there for use during treatment. Having someone to keep an “eye” on your body thru the year is a benefit opposed to seeing someone you don’t know when you have an issue.
I go for ART
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Most chiro is mere pseudoscience. Look up “subluxation theory”, which violates quite a few known scientific principles. For some areas, like lower back, it can be more dangerous than helpful (same with back surgery, as recently realized).
Look up “deviation to the mean” which can explain a large percentage of “positive” chiropractic results.
There are a few areas it can help, but very few chiropractors know the difference. There is nothing behind ongoing maintenance, although it can feel nice sometimes I suppose. If you find a chiropractor that follows real science, keep him/her around for the situations where mechanical adjustments can help.
I go for ART
+1.
Most chiro is mere pseudoscience. Look up “subluxation theory”, which violates quite a few known scientific principles. For some areas, like lower back, it can be more dangerous than helpful (same with back surgery, as recently realized).
Look up “deviation to the mean” which can explain a large percentage of “positive” chiropractic results.
There are a few areas it can help, but very few chiropractors know the difference. There is nothing behind ongoing maintenance, although it can feel nice sometimes I suppose. If you find a chiropractor that follows real science, keep him/her around for the situations where mechanical adjustments can help.
-1 for this post.
I don’t believe in Quackapracters. Of course they’ll tell you that they do wonders. So does every other similar quack. Near as I can figure, they work on faith and if that works for you then great, no problem. And, if I were suffering, long term from something I would try whatever I could to seek relief, likely even a Quackapracter. But at this point no one is going to wrench on my neck. FAR too much risk of permanent injury.
People with uneducated and limited opinions shouldn’t really comment.
A more balanced view would suggest that you check out there methods of treatment and overall approach. Chiropractors come in many different varieties, just like doctors, physio, massage, etc. find a sports chiro that uses multiple treatment techniques in the soft tissue area, ART and Graston are a good start. I would avoid someone that claims cracking you neck will make you smarter, healthier and forever injury free. But that isn’t what the new generation of sport chiros are doing.
-2
Its been two months since the last round of profession bashing. The tour of Dubai must not be exciting enough.
There are idiots in every profession. If the MD/DO/PT/DC you are seeing seems like one, or doesn’t really convey to you they know exactly what they are talking about, move on.
If something sounds ethereal and you are not an ethereal person… move on.
If something sounds science based, the provider has a clear, timely plan on action and accountability to regularly check in to make sure you are responding to the plan, then decide if that works for you.
Furthermore: There’s nothing to “believe in”. Its a form of healthcare just like anything else, not a religion. Saying “I don’t believe in medicine” sounds equally ignorant. “Medicine/chiropractic/PT has or hasn’t worked for me” is a far appropriate statement.
Totally agree that folks should look into particular therapists and get references. No way would I go to just anyone… I need to trust that the guy cracking my neck/back knows what he’s doing. Frankly, I tried chiro as a last resort (was freaked out about the stories/risks I had heard about). I feel it has helped me, but I know others it has not worked for. To each their own… whatever helps you heal and/or stay in a condition that you can train and race. And is legal, naturally. 
Here’s a reference with links to a bunch of other references:
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/reference/chiropractic/
The net summary is:
- There is limited evidence that spinal manipulation may help with certain back injuries, under specific conditions.
- However, there is no scientific basis for chiropractic.
If your chiropractor believes in the germ theory of disease, and only treats objectively measurable injuries of the back/hips, maybe you are okay. You’d probably be better with a physical therapist or DO. There is 0 evidence to support ongoing treatment without injury.
The summary quote from that page:
“Chiropractors… might compete with physiotherapists in terms of treating some back problems, but all their other claims are beyond belief and can carry a range of significant risks.”
If it makes you feel good, that’s fine. I liked the feeling of getting my neck cracked when I was younger and tried out all this stuff. But that isn’t the same is preventing injury. Keep in mind, that even a lot of western medical treatments for back injuries are also now turning out to not necessarily be effective.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2948294/
If you firmly believe in chiropractic care, and it makes you feel better, I’m not going to try and change your opinion. Crack on if it makes you feel nice. But some people reading this haven’t looked into it yet, and they should know there isn’t any science supporting the profession, and if they need spinal manipulation therapy there are other options from people with a medical background.
I don’t believe in Quackapracters. Of course they’ll tell you that they do wonders. So does every other similar quack. Near as I can figure, they work on faith and if that works for you then great, no problem. And, if I were suffering, long term from something I would try whatever I could to seek relief, likely even a Quackapracter. But at this point no one is going to wrench on my neck. FAR too much risk of permanent injury.
People with uneducated and limited opinions shouldn’t really comment.
A more balanced view would suggest that you check out there methods of treatment and overall approach. Chiropractors come in many different varieties, just like doctors, physio, massage, etc. find a sports chiro that uses multiple treatment techniques in the soft tissue area, ART and Graston are a good start. I would avoid someone that claims cracking you neck will make you smarter, healthier and forever injury free. But that isn’t what the new generation of sport chiros are doing.
Well, if you’ve been on here for awhile you’ll know that I have many opinions and with a Masters Degree (MBA) I suspect that I’d be classified as “educated”. So, seeing as I’m both educated and have many opinions, I did comment. But then perhaps your statement was more general and didn’t apply directly to me. By the way, as part of the “education” part, you may want to learn the difference between “there” and “their” (and there is also they’re but that didn’t apply in your paragraph). Now that the “personal aspect” of this is out of the way we can continue with the conversation.
Your post, along with some others has had me reflecting on my beliefs. Now, as we all know, “beliefs” are hard to change, they are like “faith” and it is hard to challenge the faith and / or beliefs of others. I could go on about all sorts of others beliefs but that isn’t what this is about. My belief has also been (based upon what I’ve learned, what my extended families have believed) is that Chiropractors are nonsense. I’ve also put this in the same category as touch healing and similar groups. I would classify ART as a massage technique and wouldn’t have grouped that with Chiro. Similarly, Graston can be done by many people who are not Chiros and I think that works about as well as a copper bracelet but again that’s my belief. Now, having said all that, I remain confused. In order to become a Chiro, a person must spend a lot of time in school. One of these days I’ll look at it in more detail and who knows, may change my beliefs but in the meantime I have no plans to go to a Chiro. Now, as I originally stated, if I were in distress and nothing else would work, yes I would seek out a Chiro but then I’d also seek out anything else that I hoped would work.
I am going to take a slightly different track:
as a PT, athlete, and someone who has had a fair number of reasons for rehab: I would say there could be some good potential in having someone (DC/DO/PT - in no particular order) who is on your medical team and working to keep you pain free. I know I am supposed to bash chiropractic, the techniques, the theory - but I work closely with many really excellent health care providers that have DC after their names. As other’s have said, it is not the profession, it is the practitioner.
Regarding optimization of your performance: if I think of my own musculoskeletal system, I know I have some chronic mal-alignments, imbalances, etc that I work on, but regardless I need outside assistance sometimes. I try to tackle these BEFORE they become significantly painful or a true ‘injury’. In this case, I think it would potentially be good to have someone you trust looking at you semi-regularly - i.e. preventative care.
Regarding ‘other health services’: this is more difficult for me personally to evaluate, but I would just advise that with my personal training, reading, education, etc I don’t believe there is a supplement, pill, oil, etc that you can take that is going to make you the athlete you want to be (legally that is). Training, hard work and a good diet of real food will get you there just as well. So take the good with the bad, sift out what doesn’t fit your paradigm and train well.
Good luck!
Dana