Chiropractor for back pain?

Question

Neck straight, not a 45 degree angle. Suggest 12 month program to make "adjustments". $3000.00

Answer 1

I'm willing to bet the above poster is a medical doctor... it's evident by his obvious ignorance towards chiropractic and what it entails.

For a start, chiropractors follow exactly the same training as medical doctors for the first half of their training and then instead of going into training for surgery and such, focus on the spine etc.

The aim of chiropractic is to keep the body in it the best shape possible, which is done by maintenance visits to your chiropractor. You should take care of your body all the time, not just when you are in pain.

If you walk into your chiropractors office and they ask you how you are, they want you to say great.. because that's how you are supposed to be! They check you, make sure everything is good to go and you're set. What do you think your medical doctor would say if you walked into their office feeling great? "well then what have you come to see me for?"
Both professions have completely different philosophies, so naturally the chiropractic philosophy is lost on doctors because it is not pain orientated.

With that said, just like when choosing a doctor... when selecting a chiropractor, you have to make sure you get a good one.

A 12 month program of care seems unusual to me, but that depends on what it entails. Some chiropractors have a 6-8 week intensive care program, and once your spine is in good shape, they switch you to maintenance. That means you go in every 3 weeks for a check-up, unless something happens in that time and you need to go regularly again. The intensive care program costs about 1100 euro (i live in ireland, that is what my program costs) and after that, the maintenace care program is around 500 euro and that covers you for any amount of vists you may need in that time.

Adding those things together and changing them to US dollars would bring about the same price - $3000. If the program I have described sounds similar to what your chiropractor has told you, then it sounds pretty reasonable.

Just make sure your chiropractor has the right qualifications and you have nothing to worry about =)

Answer 2

What individuals say about chiropractors shouldn't be real. Chiropractors have verified to be reliable and effective alternatives to average medicine, and hundreds of thousands of people have cured many different types of again problems via chiropractor work. Most persons who've suffered from most ache have done so in view that they did not comply with the routine given to them by means of the chiropractor. A good chiropractor gives you exercises and right lifting techniques, and many individuals fail to comply with up on these, inflicting extra problems. Of direction, no one needs to accept blame for their issues when it's less difficult accountable the supposed "quack" who gave them the recommendation they did not follow. Go determine. In the end that, bet what? I still believe you will have to discuss with your surgeon first. In the event that they can't aid, then have them endorse you to a back specialist and notice how that works out. Chiropractors can also be first-rate, however there is no purpose to motel to that if normal medication can repair you up. Preserve your choices open. Are trying one thing, and if it does not work for you, then try yet another factor. Again affliction will not be an detailed science. What is quality for one man or woman could not be first-class for a further. In spite of everything, the first-class recommendation someone can provide you with is to follow by means of on the directions your medical professional or chiropractor offers you! Now not doing this is the #1 mistake that men and women with back ache commit. Good luck!

Answer 3

That does seem to be a very extended and costly program.. would suggest you check with another doctor.. no one can predict the length of time it will take to recover. If you were not advised that at least 85% of your recovery will depend on what you do at home, then you do need to get another opinion.

The usual method of treatment is scheduled according to the progress made. Dropping off frequency of treatments as indicated by the progress accomplished.

Like any other field, there are only 10% of practitioners that are exceptional. The rest are seeing how much money they can make.

Answer 4

Let's put it this way, get it in writing. If you don't get some kind of improvement on xray it's malpractice. Personally, I would find another chiropractor, who charges visit to visit. Mechanically, a hypolordotic neck, i.e. military neck will result in biomechanical issues that eventually if not corrected lead to degenerative disc disease. Also, you will be getting some pretty severe headaches. If you want to correct just the curve, you need to get on your hands and knees and pick your head up. This is how you developed that curve in the first place. When you were born your entire spine was one big c-curve, after you learned to roll over, you started to lift you head. This developed your curve in your neck. Then you learned to stand, which developed the curve in your lower back. Both of these curves are opposite of the original c-curve.

Chiropractors are not quacks. This is a term used by biased MD's trying to protect their turf or Physical Therapists who wish (because they legally can't in most states and have tried unsuccessfully to persuade states to change their scope of practice, i.e. State of Arkansas) manipulate the spine.

It was first coined by the American Medical Association and they were successfully sued by Dr. Wilk of Chicago in the Illinois Supreme Court and the AMA appealed to the Supreme Court, which denied them in the late eighties. The AMA then had to pay 20 some million dollars for it.

Also, they are part of the National Institutes of Health a world organization. In Fact, NCCAM a part of said organization just gave a whole bunch of money to have chiropractors in a research setting.

The Veterans Administration has Chiropractors on staff at VA hospitals around the country. Your elected representatives in the federal government are putting through legislation so that active military can see chiropractors and pay for it.

Lance Armstrong has a chiropractor that he credits go to a library and look at his book.

Evander Holyfield the boxer has a wife who is an MD. He was adjusted before and after every fight. Look for it, it has been reported.

Most of the NFL, NBA, and Baseball teams all have chiropractors on staff.

The winter Olympics health team, that means MD's, were under the direction of a Chiropractor.

All fifty states have chiropractors. If they are quacks, why would the states allow them to practice. You can find chiropractors in the Emergency Department of Hospitals, i.e. New Jersey off the top of my head. Also, they have the lowest malpractice insurance premiums of all primary care. Most countries have chiropractors. You can even find American chiropractors in Chinese hospitals.

sidenote: Quackwatch and it's affiliated websites are run by a doctor who doesn't practice and who has been successfully sued over and over by chiropractors.

If you want to see, what unbiased research there is about chiropractic then go to where all journals in science are at and look for yourself.

www.pubmed.gov, which is a service of the National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health

Answer 5

That is total nonsense. Visit your primary care physician and have a thorough evaluation done, if he/she just gives you meds and you want more than that then ask for a referral to see a physiatrist if you have chronic symptoms. A referral to a physical therapist may also be an excellent option for you based upon the physician's findings.

I will say this, if you decide to see a therapist, do not be afraid to call around and ask to speak to the therapist to see if they indeed specialize in spinal care. Some do and some don't, it is a much wider field than most realize. Most physical therapists that do specialize in spinal care are highly educated in the dynamics of the spine and also do perform manipulation of your joints when warranted but they also have many other options for advanced treatment.

None the less, I do not recommend corporate facilities such as HealthSouth, NovaCare or Banyan Tree as most of these facilities do not allow the therapist to have control over thier own schedules and you may not be able to see the same therapist from visit to visit, which in my opinion is poor medical care care driven by corporate interest.

Chiropractic care, if you can call it that, what a sham! There may be a few good chiros out there who want to do a good job and may actually practice ethically but the profession is litered with so many quacks like the one that quoted you a years worth of "adjustments" that finding a good chiro is about as likely as winning the lottery or being struck by lightening.

What the general population doesn't seem to realize anymore is that chiropractors are traditionally not trained in modern medicine nor are they a branch of modern medicine. They do NOT go to medical school. Chiropractors are trained in chiropractic which is an unfounded, unscientific model of quasihealthcare usually taught in colleges that only teach chiropractic. There is not a single chiropractic school in the states that is found in a university system. They are usually seperate entities from all other schools because they teach their own form of science and health which is NOT recognised in the mainstream. They are NOT another type of medical doctor that just decided to go into chiropractic care versus say, orthopedics or neurology.

If you want to know the truth behind chiropractic care and chiropractors, then check out the following links. Really check out these sites too as many of the articles are written by chiropractors that have renounced their own profession.

http://www.ncahf.org/pp/chirop.html
http://www.quackwatch.org/01quackeryrela...
http://www.chirobase.org/01general/chiro...
http://www.acsh.org/healthissues/newsid....
http://www.chirobase.org/01general/skept...
http://www.quackwatch.org/01quackeryrela...
http://www.chirobase.org/06dd/chirovet.h...

Also, chiropractors state that research has justified their techniques, check out the following;

During the past few years, two reports about the treatment of low-back pain have placed chiropractic in a favorable light. One, issued by the RAND Corporation, concluded that spinal manipulation was appropriate for some cases of low-back pain. The other, produced by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR), judged manipulation useful for controlling symptoms while awaiting the spontaneous recovery that occurs within a month in most patients with low-back problems.
Although chiropractors have promoted these reports as endorsements of chiropractic, they are not. They merely support the use of manipulation in carefully selected patients. Only a few of the research studies on which their conclusions were based involved manipulation by chiropractors; most were done by medical doctors and physical therapists whose practices are not identical to those of chiropractors. Most chiropractors manipulate the vast majority of patients who walk through their door, some use techniques that have not been studied scientifically, and many urge all of their patients to undergo monthly or even weekly "preventive maintenance" visits throughout their life. In addition, many chiropractors emphasize a technique that is more vigorous (and therefore less safe) than the controlled manipulation used by other practitioners. The only places where "chiropractic" and "chiropractors" are mentioned in the body of the AHCPR report are in the passages about the make-up of the AHCPR expert panel.

Answer 6

A number of things have worked for me. I used to see a chiropractor, but I can't afford it now.
I use 2 things: a cold pack and a heating pad. I have the type of heating pad that you moisten. These work for me. A physiotherapist may suggest some exercises you can do at home.

Answer 7

If the chiro tells you up front how many visits and the exact cost - find another chiro. Everyone is different and responds differently to treatment. The first few weeks will probably entail several visits per week, but after that it should tail off to once a week and then even less. I'm down to once a month now and then only if I feel the need to go.

Answer 8

At two visits a week, the price is not unreasonable for a year.

I was able to resolve a nagging problem in about 20 visits, not 100.

Answer 9

Chiro can help with the alignment of back and other parts, but hey...massage therapy can help with back pain.
:)

Answer 10

Sounds like you need a second opinion, or a jar of vaseline.......because you are about to get scre**d