What do you think about chiropractors

[thedendrochronologist]

Just that really.

For the past 18 months I've seen one for a chronic low back problem with no specific cause. (Exhausted nhs options)

Chiro worked but disliked business model of this one practice(pressurising for 22 sessions and a "plan")
Or it won't work". Stopped going after a while. Worked 60%. Nice practice beautifully clean and branded but super gimmicky.

Back seized again so painful. went to a differ one with a different model. He is wondrous and back is easing already he said at between 3-4 sessions and a top as and when.

No, you aren't the only one. I found it frightening and traumatic. And it didn't work.

Went to one for a couple of years. She was amazing, diagnosed immediately what was causing horrendous headaches ( so bad I’d been taken to A&E on instructions of 111, all they did was give me morphine) Not overpriced, no pressure to book more than I could afford. Helped me so much.
Then I moved house. Tried another. £200 for initial consultation which left me in agony. Pressure to sign up for a course of treatments, which I cancelled.

You need recommendations for someone who is really good.

They are all fools.

I didn't feel brutalised seeing a chiropractor but I felt a bit of what you're saying. Like many others I saw one who wouldn't let me go without booking another session. The first session felt helpful but after that I would feel no difference whatsoever (despite him insisting my back was was "getting better" but obviously not enough to stop seeing him 😒) and what he did each time just felt horribly uncomfortable. After about 4 sessions I cancelled and never went back. I also tried an osteopath who did the "back crack" thing unexpectedly and told me it was my vertebrae "unfusing" 🤨 I might have gone again if she'd just stuck to the massage bit. To be honest nothing really seems to help except stretches and exercise. People keep recommending pilates but I can't afford it, sadly. Oh and I tried acupuncture which was amazing, but too expensive to try again. If I were wealthy I'd definitely try that again. I felt like a bendy teenager again after one session!

I'm not convinced. I saw a chiropractor for sacroiliac/pelvis issues during and after pregnancy.

The treatments did relieve the pain for a few days but I ended up having 1-2 sessions a week. The clinic was super slick and friendly but I found it a bit "culty" tbh. "Swing by whenever you're passing for a coffee and a chat" and introducing patients to each other in the waiting room like we were at a social event. Quite bizarre when I think about it!

And expensive - £50 a session which generally lasted less than 10 mins. It worked for immediate pain relief but didn't resolve the underlying issue. Never again.

The first one I saw was like a miracle - I was speechless when he asked me how my back felt after weeks of pain. He said 3 sessions should sort it but I only had 2.
A few years later with a similar problem I saw a young chiropractor. Similar success but he told me that what I needed to do over the long term was to keep my back moving through all its movements so if the pain started, I'd go to the bathroom or wherever and bend, rotate etc my back. Best advice I've had and nothing since.

Had poor results from a range of Physios, but now swear by my Sport Osteopath, who sorted an issue in two visits that private / NHS Physios didn't touch in two years and even said was in my imagination! Like most things, definitely not all the same and the quality and care varies hugely. When you find a good 'un, you know!

I think that whilst massage and gentle stretches that can cause cavitation/popping can be very pleasant, along with advice on posture and exercises to strengthen the core, the aggressive, gungho poppers and crackers are a fucking liability and there are a huge number of those in the business.

Once I met one performing super fast neck cracks in the clinical environment of a pub beer garden and not even saying, I realised they weren't all like the lovely, gentle osteopath I saw when I was 19 who stopped a migraine in its tracks and taught me what good posture felt like, so my back pain I'd had since 13 stopped.

The mental image of the neck cracking for shots bloke has kept me from going to one recently following lower back pain - and then one of my mates had a stroke a couple of weeks ago aged 56. Fortunately, he got top rate treatment and he's recovered brilliantly, but when he was chatting about it, he mentioned that he'd been to his chiropractor the day before. Correlation is not causation, but that's way too close for my liking, so I think I'll stick to physio, hydro and sports massage from now on.

I definitely rate chiropractic treatment but like anything there are good and bad.

I went to one for years when we lived in the south west. He really helped various issues I have. With issues with my neck and upper spine he recommended an mri so he could see what was happening.

We have moved and I now see a McTimoney chiropractor and she is great too. In a different way.

Neither have put a pressure on for multiple appointments. Or signing up for anything.

for a proper scientific evaluation of chiropractors, read Edzard Ernst's book, reviewed here

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/edzard-ernst-tackles-chiropractic/#:~:text=Edzard%20Ernst's%20prolific%20output%20continues,totality%20of%20the%20published%20evidence.

the short answer is - it is unscientific and might be dangerous

🦆🦆

I ‘ve had it over the years for back problems and it always worked. Some are better than others though. It is a degree course, it’s not quackery. I found physio useless.

Wouldn’t go near one if you paid me. Spinal surgeons warn patients about them for a reason, there have been multiple cases of people being paralysed by chiropractors. Go to a good physio instead - they’re actually properly trained and regulated!!

It’s not a degree course. They are an unregulated profession. Physios are regulated by the HCPC governing body, chiropractors are not.

I went to see one for my hips. He grabbed my neck and twisted it so it cracked. But he had to do it a few times to get the crack he wanted and I felt like I had whiplash.

Omg

I have never seen a chiropractor who cracked anything. That sounds awful. McTimoney are very good and gentle.

I've always used an excellent physio, who has sorted anything in one or two sessions (and me doing the exercises!). If anyone is near south east London and would like his details, PM me

I don't like all that cracking nonsense 😑

I got referred to a physio after being on a waiting list for nearly a year. In that time I could barely walk. If I hadn’t seen a chiropractor I would have gone mad. The physio couldn’t tell me why I had back pain and just gave me some generic exercises. Useless. By that time I was a lot better anyway.

I've used one for issues with my neck following a motorbike accident and also back pain. Both times it was like they were miracle workers. The sessions were expensive but he only saw me for the times I needed him. No plan etc and I didn't feel fleeced at all.

In that time you also could’ve paid privately to see a good spinal physio (all are not created equally) for the same price that you’d paid for a chiropractor though?

Same, back is still shite but i've not had a migraine since

That's really interesting! I figure he did some good but would never go back

I think some are out to milk you for money, but mine doesn't and is amazing! She actually diagnosed my hip issue when everyone else had dismissed it.

And most ultra-right wingers.

What's your point? Extremists are extremists.