Chiropractors...

[xotoxi]

I have a lot of patients that go to them and have good results from them. I personally wouldn't go to them. I prefer to refer patients for PT as I am more in favor of soft tissue manipulation than joint manipulation.

 

[MikeK]

BTW when I had my first episode of full blown sciatica, pain meds didn't touch the pain. Knocked me out, but never eased me.

How long do your sciatica bouts last? The average is six to eight weeks.

One chiropractor I went to with sciatica (about twenty years ago) told me the "treatment" would take about six weeks. I went to him twice a week and he hooked me up to a TENS unit, which instantly relieved the gnawing pain for the fifteen or twenty minutes it was on me, but within five minutes after he removed it the pain was back full blast. The pain did gradually go away after about six weeks, which is the natural course of the condition.

I was interested in buying a TENS unit but at that time they were sold only to medical professionals and the prices hovered at the $2,500 level. More recently the law has been changed, anyone can buy one and there are lots of smaller, less elaborate but very effective ones available. I have one that I paid $85 for and it works very nicely.

I haven't had a full blown sciatica attack yet but I have had a couple of shoulder (rotator cuff) pain events which are very painful and the TENS unit kills the pain for as long as I have the elecrodes applied. The pain comes back when I remove the electrodes but the period of relief is welcome and there is no limit to how long the unit can stay on.

 

[boedicca]

I'd rather have a good massage thereapist than a chiropractor. Having been treated by both, I've received much better benefits at lower cost from the former.

 

[JBeukema]

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PubMed Health - Gabapentin


??

It treats neuropathic pain. It's used all the time for that. That being said, it's not always effective. In fact, anecdotally, low back pain and neuropathic pain is pretty hard to treat. Which is why a lot of people seek out chiropractors.

We don't have a good grasp on the matter IMO.

So it treats the pain, not the underlying condition?

My earlier statement remains true, then.

 

[JBeukema]

Thanks for replying. Actually I have sciatica..and it is dealing me fits today. I have had it off and on the last several years. So bad until I have nerve damage. I actually trust no one to touch me now.

So in your opinion, my gut feeling of not trusting chiropractors, is valid.

Have you considered a good physical therapist? Strengthening your core might help, too.

Actually, I am considering that now.

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[JBeukema]

BTW when I had my first episode of full blown sciatica, pain meds didn't touch the pain. Knocked me out, but never eased me.

episode?

Isn't sciatica a chronic condition?

 

[geauxtohell]

Any here? Anyone had experiences with them? Views...all that, please.


I have never been to one, never felt comfortable.....and had bad experiences in my family.
My dad was going to one for his back, was being treated, when all along it was a perforated ulcer, which ended up rupturing. He also had COPD, which lead to his death.
My BIL was going to one, being treated for sciatica, when in fact he had, and died from ALS.

Anyway, I would appreciated if anyone has thoughts or experiences.

Sorry for your troubles. Chiropractors don't go to medical school, so I could see how they would have missed ALS. Gastric pain refers to the middle back, so I could see why a chiropractor thought it was musculoskeletal when in fact it was visceral. Chiropractors don't diagnose at all. They just treat. Treatment without diagnosis is like throwing darts in the dark. That being said, they do good things for a lot of people and the standards of their profession don't require them to have a medical degree.

Before I went to one, I'd want to ensure that they had malpractice insurance (not all states require them to carry it).

I also wouldn't let them touch my neck. Period.

I didn't blame the chiropractors, it just gave me this eerie feeling that 2 people I dearly loved was under the care of one, and died. I realize one had nothing to do with the other.

ALS was hard to diagnose. Oddly enough my BIL DID have sciatica...but ultimately got worse and worse, and then was diagnosed with ALS.

In my dad's case, well, he knew he had emphysema, and COPD, and had had back pain.

COPD is just a miserable way to spend the last years of your life. As a med student, I tell the patients I deal with who smoke that: Hey, even if you beat the lung cancer thing, odds are high that you will have COPD and get to spend about 15 days a year in the hospital with exacerbation and be on steroids and oxygen.

 

[geauxtohell]

PubMed Health - Gabapentin


??

It treats neuropathic pain. It's used all the time for that. That being said, it's not always effective. In fact, anecdotally, low back pain and neuropathic pain is pretty hard to treat. Which is why a lot of people seek out chiropractors.

We don't have a good grasp on the matter IMO.

So it treats the pain, not the underlying condition?

My earlier statement remains true, then.

No, you said "treat" not "cure". They aren't necessarily the same thing.

We treat heart failure with diuretics and heart meds. The only way to cure it is by a heart transplant.

 

[JBeukema]

To treat still implies improvement.

There's no cure for sciatica, but some treatments for the curvature of the spine do exist.

 

[Kat]

Sorry for your troubles. Chiropractors don't go to medical school, so I could see how they would have missed ALS. Gastric pain refers to the middle back, so I could see why a chiropractor thought it was musculoskeletal when in fact it was visceral. Chiropractors don't diagnose at all. They just treat. Treatment without diagnosis is like throwing darts in the dark. That being said, they do good things for a lot of people and the standards of their profession don't require them to have a medical degree.

Before I went to one, I'd want to ensure that they had malpractice insurance (not all states require them to carry it).

I also wouldn't let them touch my neck. Period.

I didn't blame the chiropractors, it just gave me this eerie feeling that 2 people I dearly loved was under the care of one, and died. I realize one had nothing to do with the other.

ALS was hard to diagnose. Oddly enough my BIL DID have sciatica...but ultimately got worse and worse, and then was diagnosed with ALS.

In my dad's case, well, he knew he had emphysema, and COPD, and had had back pain.

COPD is just a miserable way to spend the last years of your life. As a med student, I tell the patients I deal with who smoke that: Hey, even if you beat the lung cancer thing, odds are high that you will have COPD and get to spend about 15 days a year in the hospital with exacerbation and be on steroids and oxygen.

It was a horrible way to die. My dad was 6'2'', and when he died I bet he weighed 80 pounds.(if that much) He was under the care of Hospice for a year..which was unusual..people rarely last that long when Hospice is called in (to my knowledge).
As he put it.. he was ''chained like a dog'' to the oxygen. Yes, it was a horrible way to die.
I spent almost 2 years myself helping care for him.

 

[Kat]

It treats neuropathic pain. It's used all the time for that. That being said, it's not always effective. In fact, anecdotally, low back pain and neuropathic pain is pretty hard to treat. Which is why a lot of people seek out chiropractors.

We don't have a good grasp on the matter IMO.

So it treats the pain, not the underlying condition?

My earlier statement remains true, then.

No, you said "treat" not "cure". They aren't necessarily the same thing.

We treat heart failure with diuretics and heart meds. The only way to cure it is by a heart transplant.

I need a back transplant.

 

[2Parties]

My mom has been going to a chiropractor for a while. The different things she's done has lowered her very high blood pressure to where it should be without using the poisons from the pharmaceuticals.

 

[JBeukema]

So it treats the pain, not the underlying condition?

My earlier statement remains true, then.

No, you said "treat" not "cure". They aren't necessarily the same thing.

We treat heart failure with diuretics and heart meds. The only way to cure it is by a heart transplant.

I need a back transplant.

I told you not to spend so much time on it...

 

[Kat]

No, you said "treat" not "cure". They aren't necessarily the same thing.

We treat heart failure with diuretics and heart meds. The only way to cure it is by a heart transplant.

I need a back transplant.

I told you not to spend so much time on it...

 

[geauxtohell]

I didn't blame the chiropractors, it just gave me this eerie feeling that 2 people I dearly loved was under the care of one, and died. I realize one had nothing to do with the other.

ALS was hard to diagnose. Oddly enough my BIL DID have sciatica...but ultimately got worse and worse, and then was diagnosed with ALS.

In my dad's case, well, he knew he had emphysema, and COPD, and had had back pain.

COPD is just a miserable way to spend the last years of your life. As a med student, I tell the patients I deal with who smoke that: Hey, even if you beat the lung cancer thing, odds are high that you will have COPD and get to spend about 15 days a year in the hospital with exacerbation and be on steroids and oxygen.

It was a horrible way to die. My dad was 6'2'', and when he died I bet he weighed 80 pounds.(if that much) He was under the care of Hospice for a year..which was unusual..people rarely last that long when Hospice is called in (to my knowledge).
As he put it.. he was ''chained like a dog'' to the oxygen. Yes, it was a horrible way to die.
I spent almost 2 years myself helping care for him.

It is rare. If I remember right, the average stay in hospice is measured in days.

Sorry for your troubles.

 

[geauxtohell]

My mom has been going to a chiropractor for a while. The different things she's done has lowered her very high blood pressure to where it should be without using the poisons from the pharmaceuticals.

Like eliminating salt from her diet? That's not some huge medical secret.

It's not that we have to use medication to treat hypertension and diabetes.

It's just that the vast majority of people aren't going to do a damn thing to change their life style. Pragmatism drives the decision as much as pathology.

 

[Kat]

COPD is just a miserable way to spend the last years of your life. As a med student, I tell the patients I deal with who smoke that: Hey, even if you beat the lung cancer thing, odds are high that you will have COPD and get to spend about 15 days a year in the hospital with exacerbation and be on steroids and oxygen.

It was a horrible way to die. My dad was 6'2'', and when he died I bet he weighed 80 pounds.(if that much) He was under the care of Hospice for a year..which was unusual..people rarely last that long when Hospice is called in (to my knowledge).
As he put it.. he was ''chained like a dog'' to the oxygen. Yes, it was a horrible way to die.
I spent almost 2 years myself helping care for him.

It is rare. If I remember right, the average stay in hospice is measured in days.

Sorry for your troubles.

Thank you. It's okay. He died in 2000. I am okay over it now.

 

[Phoenix]

Any here? Anyone had experiences with them? Views...all that, please.


I have never been to one, never felt comfortable.....and had bad experiences in my family.
My dad was going to one for his back, was being treated, when all along it was a perforated ulcer, which ended up rupturing. He also had COPD, which lead to his death.
My BIL was going to one, being treated for sciatica, when in fact he had, and died from ALS.

Anyway, I would appreciated if anyone has thoughts or experiences.

Yup. Been to several for different cases of whiplash.

Worked well for me but not everybody likes em.

 

[Big Fitz]

Any here? Anyone had experiences with them? Views...all that, please.


I have never been to one, never felt comfortable.....and had bad experiences in my family.
My dad was going to one for his back, was being treated, when all along it was a perforated ulcer, which ended up rupturing. He also had COPD, which lead to his death.
My BIL was going to one, being treated for sciatica, when in fact he had, and died from ALS.

Anyway, I would appreciated if anyone has thoughts or experiences.

My chiropractor was a GODsend!

I injured my back in 1994. Never went to one then, as the problem kind of healed, but it made me susceptible (unknowingly) to future problems. in 2000, they showed up as my L4 went out. I couldn't sit or stand straight up. So I went to the chiropractor.

Put me on the table, and made an adjustment. I let out a LOUD expletive that apparently could be heard throughout the entire clinic. But it cured the issue.

I then had off and on trouble with my back for the next 4 years. The last time, required me to get treatment for my L4, L5 and Coccyx when they went out together. I was never in such agony. Took 8 sessions to cure it.

My Chiropractor said that most people who were in my position would have gone for the surgery, and I said no way. I can't afford it, have no insurance, and know the repercussions once they start cutting, you're screwed for life.

So if you have skeletal trouble... GO GO GO GO GO!!!!!!!! They will do wonderful things for you if you get a good one. Trust your instincts and ask those who use them who they recommend in your area.