Posted: 7/16/2006 7:57:39 PM EDT
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My fiancee has some back problems. It's always hurting and she works on her feet 6-8 hours at a time which doesn't help. She went to a chiropractor (which, I have always been "iffy" on) and they took some x rays and told her that her back/pelvis is out of alignment and one side of the pelvis is half an in higher than the other or some shit. Basically he set out some adjustment plan where she had to come in and get aligned x amount of times for like 2 weeks and then bi weekly indefinately. Indefinately?! People have always told me once you go to a chiropractor you will have to keep going back, then that's exactly what he told her when she went. I find it hard to believe it can't be "cured". Has anyone had experience with chiropractors, and "alternate" ways of getting a back fixed? I can't stand to see her in pain anymore so I want to do something. |
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I went to one after I got rear ended. He did nothing except cash the insurance checks. Physical therapy worked great for me. My wife goes all the time though and thinks it works wonders. But she's always bringing home these $50 bottles of homeopathic medicine for treating who knows what. |
| I've been to the chiropracter for neck/back problems following car-accidents and I love it. My guy does heat/e-stim then ultra-sound to loosen up the muscles then does his adjustments. Each time it was for 2-3 weeks following the accident (neck/back the first time, just neck the 2nd) and I have no re-ocurring problems. |
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Id be in big trouble without my chiropractor. But I also take a lot of glucosamine/chondroitin to build up the joint once its in the correct position. Be sure to have the chiro check the SI joint. Sacrum Illiac. Its the cause of many back problems. If it is out of position, then all of the higher vertebre will not be alligned vertically. |
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I went to one and he said exactly the same line , I went for ten visits and it still hurt. I then went to a real doctor, I told him the problem he asked me to turn around and gently punched me in the ass, he said thats your syative nerve (not sure if its spelled right) any ways I told him I had been going to a chiropractor and he really didn't say anything but kinda rolled his eyes. Any way , the moral of the story is see a real doctor first 
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Is there some vitamins she could take that would encourage joint health? I mean, I'm not totally writing off what this guy says, he seems to be fairly knowledgeable but I just find it hard to believe the solution is to come in and get "adjusted" twice a month indefinately. Think about all that money... |
Well, she did go to her physician and they really didn't tell her much. She went to him for the frequent visit for 2 weeks, then the bi monthly for 1.5 months after that and the pain was slightly better but still there. Could have been the placebo effect, I don't know. |
Well that's where we are now. It only helped slightly, so I was looking for alternative solutions. I told her *I* think if we bought a hot tub and she sat in it for 30 minutes or so, every day, it would help relax her muscles and eliminate her back pain. I hurt my back a couple years ago and could not get my back to stop hurting. I could barely move. Well one night a rented a hotel room with a hot tub in it and spent a good deal of time in it (obviously ) and my back pain never came back. |
| I hurt my back about five years ago at work. Went to an orthopedic surgeon who told me I had a slipped disc. Had two choices, surgery or PT. Didn't want somebody operating on my back so opted for PT. After a couple of months I was feeling much better. The doctor told me my pain might come back. He suggested I try Chiropractic.Said some body swear by it, some call it hokey. Starting going twice a week. I haven't had any back problems since and I feel my health in general is great. I really do not get sick anymore. I don't question success! Go for it. |
| She thinks the problem stems from getting hit with a brick in the back as a kid. She says it started hurting (and remained) after a kid threw a brick into her back in 3rd grade. So this is no new problem. If we can't get her back problems resolved I don't think she'll be able to continue to be a beautician for more than another year or two...and she loves doing it, so... |
If she's there right now just do this simple test, have her stand up and just make a fist and punch her in the rear on both sides, not hard of course, if it hurts her it is her syative nerve and no chiropractor can help her. it is a bulging disc , She needs to see a Neurologist, he can try several things that don't involve surgery |
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I wouldn't go to a chiropractor until I had been to see a M.D. of some sort, just to make sure something weird isn't going on. I don't buy into chiropractor's claims that their adjustments are a cure for whatever ails you, but a limited number of sessions combined with physical therapy and an excercise regimen can do wonders for people who don't have obvious damage to their backs. |
"Helping slightly" is saying SOMETHING, with back pain, Any reason you can't try him a little longer and also try other things? Hot tubs are good, so are massages......just not all the time Walking, if you can do it without a great deal of discomfort is usually the best things for backs  But backs are weird, sometimes they need rest, sometimes it is walking, sometimes both |
Right on the lower butt , not the back the nerve runs down the butt all the way to the legs.Her doctor should have ordered a MRI done that will confirm it |
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Are you talking about the sciatic nerve? It can also act like a back problem www.answers.com/topic/sciatica |
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Read through this. www.chirobase.org/ I am sure there are some valid docs and some folks can benefit. Most Chiros are like pyramid scheme culties though. Really wonky group of folks. Their whole selling point is non use of medicines and infer that Doctors are the quacks because they only toss medication at the patient while the sauper hero Chiros can actually fix. Utter BS. They can only make you feel good temporarily. I almost went to one and they wanted me to watch this stupid video and they handed me all kinds of stupid crap. Saying newborns should be brought in and if people went monthly since birth to Chiros , most health problems would not happen, sublaxationBS, the list went on. Much of what is in that website was tried there. I just blearned to live with the pain and excercise the muscles in that area. Like my knee, it is showing signs of improvement. |
yea I didn't have the spelling right but its is the cause of many back problems when the disc rubs on it |
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I had a severe lumbar muscle sprain from a winter expedition I was on about 15 years ago. I went to many chiropractors and found hem to be beneficial for relief. I did have to go a lot and after a few years of treatment I was still having trouble. I found an acupuncturist that operated a "sports medicine clinic" in Alexandria, Virginia. He combined many methods (massage, heated suction cups, acupuncture, and electrical stimulation. The results of this treatment was very quick. Within 6 months of seeing him maybe 10 times I was as good as new. I have sent many people to him with chronic problems and they all had great relief from his clinic. I believe chiropractic is of some use, my 10 year old son was tossed by an older teenager and slammed into the street, he suffered from tender shoulders for a year before I took him to my chiropractor. In two visits he was cured, so it does work for some things. I say if your fiance is not seeing results that improve the situation considerably, then move to the next idea and try something different. Acupuncture is tops in my book. |
I think the gluteous maximus(?) also gets "tight" around it Masseuses say that women usually let out a big moan when it is loosened Oops, let me add a +1 on the Acupuncture |
It bothers her all the time. It doesn't help she's on her feet for 6-8 hours at a time. She's a beautician, and loves what she does, but if she can't get her back better I can't see her being able to do it forever. |
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Most chiropractors still use the old methods and don't want to bother learning the new methods that are coming out and have been proven effective. While adjustments serve their purpose they are not the only thing that should be done. My chiropractor uses the new proven methods called Chiropractic Biophysics. Basically it add short sessions of traction after being adjusted. You would stretch first to loosen up the muscles, the get adjusted to get things moving again and then the traction guides your spine back to ideal position. It takes 15 minutes of being in a position to effect the alignment/position of the spine semi-permanently, either in a positive or negative way. Imagine you are lounging on the couch watching a movie with your feet up on the couch and you are propped up on the arm rest. You have sat there for 2 hours and now your spine has a slight curve in that direction. Your muscles then try to compensate for that and they get sore and tighten up gradually. This is why you might feel bad the next day. This is also why you see old people whose head hangs low with a hunch back. Their head starts to lean forward because of what every they did while younger. Imagine working at a desk all day looking down at it, the muscles in your neck get strained and sore, get stiff and cause a headache. Well your the part of your spine in your neck is now slightly out of proper alignment maybe not even a mm but it is. Eventually that will build up and then gravity starts to help it along if it is not corrected you end up hunched over like the old people. Here is a web site that covers it what I am talking about in more detail, and I will include my chiropractors web site also. My Chiropractor www.regiec-chiropractic.com/index.htm Chiropractic Biophysics web site www.idealspine.com/pages/index.html If you go looking for a chiropractor try and see if you can find on that uses these new methods. Contact my chiropractor through is site and see if he can recommend one in your area, if they have some sort of super chirpractic biophysics central database or something.  While the old chiropractic methods do help some with pain they don't always cure the problem but treat they symptoms. They are hard to prove that they work because it is almost always subjective some people feel better some don't. Chiropractic Biophysics has been proven effective. I have seen it in my own X-rays and I was amazed at the effect it has on the spine. At the bottom of my chiropractors page you can see the changes in the X-rays of 2 different peoples necks.The fact that they took X-rays is good that is how they can really see if chiropractic can help or not. And to the people that say see a real doctor first, Chiropractors go through all the same schooling in med school as any other doctor until they break off into whatever specialty they are going for ETA: I also wanted to mention that there is almost zero chance of anything wrong happening at the chiropractor, and that is caused by the patients body more than anything else. I became fairly good friends with my chiropractor because we were close to the same age and liked alot of the same things. we were chattin' it up one day after one of my apointments and he was telling me about his malpractice insurance. While othor doctors pay 10s of thousands per year for malpractice insurance a chiropractor pay about $700, so don't worry about they doing anything that can cause any harm. Also you would be amazed at the things that chiropractors can fix, things that the person wasn't even seeing them for, from headaches to digestion proplems. |
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I just find it highly suspicious someone wants you to come back indefinately, which is basically telling me that they (or anyone) can't fix it and will only be able to make it feel better. I say BS. There has to be a way. That's like taking your car that's burning oil to a mechanic, and instead of giving you a valve job they just make you run higher viscosity oil. Yeah, it'll fix it temporarily, but you'll be back. |
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there are good and bad chiros. The first one I had did some adjustments and then wanted to see me (and my insurance card) twice a week for several months, and then weekly after that. Oh, and some expensive electrical stimulation and laying on a massage machine table. Oh, and they wanted me to buy some expensive supplements. No thanks, I can go to walgreens and pay a third of what you charge. The next time I needed one, I lucked out and found a no-nonsense guy who didn't try to sell any crap or extend how long I'd have to see him. I get an adjustment, ask when he thinks I need to come back, and he'll say "if it still hurts in a week, come back and see me" or if it's something that requires more than one visit, it's limited to once a week for a month or less. If you need to find one, look around. Ask friends, coworkers, and relatives. If you find one that tries to sell you the kitchen sink with your adjustments, keep looking. |
I would use to agree with you. After being screwed around by a Doctor after my first car accident three years ago, I got sick and tired of her. She would give me pain killers but never address WHY my back was hurting. In the end, because of her putting off PT for months, the insurance company was able to use that as grounds saying I had injured my back elsewhere and really screw me over (who different story). I went through PT twice, 18 weeks each time, each being issued by the doctor. I still was not better, and only marginally happier. I've been seing the Chiropracter for about a month now and feel much better - err, well at least till the rear ending last week (what a depressing thing to happen). He uses a mix of PT therapies, back adjustments, and massage therapy to hep the back, and I can really tell a difference. He said the end would require me doing exercies to keep the back muscles strong and seeing him only when I tweak my back. Just like in every profession though, there are idiots and quacks. Just get good references. |
B.S. Most doctors don't have nearly the training a chiro has regarding the back. All they want to do is mask the pain with meds. I've seen a Chiro on and off for 10 years. Just like doctors, you have good and bad ones. My uncle has been a Chiro for 40 years in Hollywood, CA. If he wasn't legit, he would have been out of business long ago. Chiro works, so does physical therapy and surgery when needed. If you really want to find out the problem with your neck or back, you'll need an MRI. |
My chiropractor consisted of alot of visits up front, 3-4 times a week but then after the problem is fixed you would go back idefinately but it was considered maintenence. One visit every 6 weeks or so to make sure that what was fixed stays fixed, because if you don't find what was causeing the problems in your daily life and correct it it will keep coming back. You said you GF was a beautician so I imagine she looks down a lot in her work, that could be cause a lot more problems than you or her realize |
That's what I said that her doctor should have done a MRI , and yea Chiro have so much more training then a Neurosurgeon 
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chiropractors do NOT, I repeat DO NOT, go to medical school. there are 127 allopathic medical schools in the US, and 19 Osteopathic medical schools in the US, In addition to these schools, there are several (I don't have the number) Chiropractic schools. Allopathic medical schools award an MD Osteopathic medical schools award a DO and Chiropractic schools award a DC although MD and DO are very similar, each of these degrees is distinctly different. Physicians (MD/DO) take nationwide licensing exams that offer license to practice medicine. Chiropractors go to a school that teach's manipulative therapy, they are not eligible to take the licensing exams that offer a medical license. As such, they are a seperate profession, they are NOT a specialty or different track of medicine. I also have a friend who is a Chiropractor. In addition to my friend that is a Chiropractor, I have several friends that are Osteopathic physicians, or DO's, and even more friends that are MD's. I said all that to say this, healthcare is a team approach, and the same treatments won't work for everyone, thats why they call it the ART of medicine, as well as medical PRACTICE. If you get some benefit from Chiropractic care, then by all means, keep going. Do not let this keep you from getting a medical work up as well. ultimately you need to find providers (note the multiple, since one single provider is unlikely to be able to adequately address all issues) that you feel comfortable with, since it is your health we are talking about. Good luck. JD |
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As was said above, there are good chiros and bad chiros. I'm weary of ay chiropractor that says treatment will go on inefinately, or wants routine visits for "maintenance." I've been to few of those guys, and smelled BS when they they tried to set me up for a routine schedule. At the end of my first visit I asked my current chiropractor, who I haven't seen in about 1 1/2 years, when he wanted me to come back. He gave me a  look and said "when your back starts hurting again." Chiropractic medicine is legitamite, but many of the practicioners are not - I believe the same holds true in any medical field, however.
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Another vote for level headed Chiropractors... and against the quacks in the field! I go to one of the no-nonsense Chiros who adjusts me when things hurt. No weekly routines for the rest of my life BS... Proper adjustment of the spine is a real issue, not mumbo jumbo. Curing everything with one technique is BS, be it Chiro or drugs. I will say this though- I HATE the high test pain killers, and the popular technique of masking everything with drugs. As a cop I see LOTS of "drunks" who are mixing a little bit of alcohol with some pain killers, and getting a similar buzz (and impairment!). I refuse to go down that road myself and get hooked on the high test pain killers. Thus I approach a sore neck or back with Chiro first before I rush to the MD for some drugs. |
Typical Chiro BS!!! They tell everybody that... Have your Dr write an RX for physical therapy, it works lasting miracles!! |
They ALL take x-rays... |
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Even a Veteranarian is qualified to dispense drugs, Chiropractors can only give vitamins because they are not qualifed. For some reason chiropractors are allowed to give X-rays they are hardly qualifed. They are Faith Healers pure and simple, if the patients have Faith they think they feel better, if they feel better then the Chiropractor did them some good. |
The only "faith" I had was in the medical doctors who I thought were going to fix me up when I fucked up my back - that turned out to be a very mis-placed faith. I didn't figure there was a shot in hell of a chiro helping me after that, but went in desparation and they did. |
No, they don't. |
Me too, oh and I have seen my chiropractor write Rx
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