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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think a chiropractor might be able to help an immune system?

144 replies

Kangaroosjump · 02/07/2015 21:10

I thought they did spinal adjustments that were meant to strengthen an immune system?

Due to an ongoing issue with my tot that doesn't seem too serious - drs not worried, but I'm seeing a few things and thinking they could be connected in a bigger holistic picture I thought we might try one for him...

Have I got the wrong thing? My mum is telling me they just sort bad backs...

What alternative health treatments (except homeopathy thanks) would be likely to help a toddlers over stressed immune system? There's a few behavioural issues im convinced are linked but it's just not enough to concern my doc... (Thankfully)

Thanks!

OP posts:
Mrsmorton · 05/07/2015 22:51

They breathe research, I can only speak to an orthodontist for a minute or two without having to sit down. Vair clever though.

Jellyrain · 05/07/2015 22:56
Grin
Jellyrain · 05/07/2015 23:19

Ps- we visited a few before deciding on one- I couldn't believe how disrespectful they were about each others' recommendations, it made the process ridiculously hard for us. Maybe in a few years they'll have a nice, easy mainstream conclusion!

If anyone is interested, I'm into osteopathy and believe that tensions and improper muscle use change the way our bodies work (for instance as a migraine sufferer osteopathy is the only thing that helps and a diet of mainly soft food stops efficient nose breathing and causes bad teeth (I have this)) I think our orthodontist is a genius- he embraces this and has come up with a solution: orthotropics.

But the fact that he isn't the only orthodontist to draw on cranial osteopathy is proof that these massively educated people can see benefits in their patients. Orthodontists want results, they would ignore facial and muscular structure and remanipulation if it wasn't relevant. Moving teeth back is damaging to the face, you have to treat the muscular structure to achieve a permanent and aesthetically pleasing result.

kali110 · 06/07/2015 03:26

If i could afford to go to a chiropractor i would, even my doctor has recommended it.
If i have a headache or migraine clicking my neck can get rid of it in seconds. I would love it on my backGrin
Although accupunture did nothing for me ( well did help my stress!) why is it available on the nhs and encouraged by doctors and physios?

Tuskerfull · 06/07/2015 08:20

But the fact that he isn't the only orthodontist to draw on cranial osteopathy is proof that these massively educated people can see benefits in their patients.

Or they can see the £££ to be gained.

Although accupunture did nothing for me ( well did help my stress!) why is it available on the nhs and encouraged by doctors and physios?

Because of a couple of very limited studies which showed a slight improvement on placebo from people having acupuncture for very specific lower back problems. Based on the evidence, it really shouldn't be approved by NICE.

MaidOfStars · 06/07/2015 08:23

Jellyrain, you know that cranial osteopathy is an approach claiming to regulate the flow of cerebrospinal fluid thus affecting all manner of diseases (implausible, to say the least)? That practitioners claim to be able to sense/measure brain pulsations (they can't)?

I don't think you're talking about 'proper' cranial osteopathy. I fucking hope your orthodontist isn't either Wink

Scoobydoo8 · 06/07/2015 08:33

People on MN are so touchy about this stuff.

Each to their own.

Is it a bit of a class thing, where only those highly educated superior beings who are doctors can heal thee.

I worked in the NHS. So perhaps that is why I'm more cynical.

noblegiraffe · 06/07/2015 09:09

It's not a class thing, it's a 'does it actually work' thing.

Chiropractic is actively dangerous, and doesn't have any proven benefits beyond a good massage.

Tuskerfull · 06/07/2015 09:18

It's not a class thing, it's a science thing.

mawbroon · 06/07/2015 09:42

Woah, stop right there.

Maid, you are confusing cranial osteopathy and craniosacral therapy.

They are entirely different things

JaWellNoFine · 06/07/2015 09:53

I went to a chiropractor for around 6 months.. No difference.

Two weeks ago I went to an Osteopath. Wow! Just Wow! Call them quacks! Ill happily pay them my money to walk out pain free.

MaidOfStars · 06/07/2015 09:57

Maid, you are confusing cranial osteopathy and craniosacral therapy

I don't think so.

Skeptic view

History

From a cranial osteopath

wallypops · 06/07/2015 13:11

Well lucky you lot don't live in France where all these things are sanctioned and paid for by the state, along with "heavy legs"! We even have homeopathic doctors - amazing results with earache.

Honestly I am sceptical by nature but sometimes something just works, could be coincidence.

We even have "toucheurs" who get rid of all sorts like teething pain, eczema etc (I'm very sceptical about them, but others swear by them). Specific saints for certain things. Actually that worked for us. And I'm not a believer but my ex was and he was the one that went.

I see an osteopath every 6 months or so and she is amazing. She doesn't click and crack things - in fact she doesn't seem to do much at all - apart from a kind of laying on hands and the results are pretty radical.

I've seen a dozen or so "back people" and she's the only one that gets my vote, but the others mostly got my cash. My rule of thumb is if you have 2 go back more than twice they are a quack. I occasionally see an kinesitherapist who is good for a quick short term fix.

My nieces and nephews saw a cranial osteopath who spotted a milk intolerance for one of them which was life changing for the child in question.

If you have the cash, go on recommendations and suck it and see I guess.

Tuskerfull · 06/07/2015 13:21

Two weeks ago I went to an Osteopath. Wow! Just Wow! Call them quacks! Ill happily pay them my money to walk out pain free.

Okay. They are quacks.

TalkinPeace · 06/07/2015 13:38

Good chiropractors are generally trained physios who know how to make money.
But its quackery.

Things like acupuncture are funded because the placebo effect is a really good treatment for chronic pain.

nmg85 · 06/07/2015 16:50

I have a chronic bladder condition and started going to an Osteopath about 6 months ago. I have found it to be helpful with my conventional medical treatment to get my condition under control. You can 100% tell that she loosens up my muscles and I feel different at the end of the session. You can't tell me that it is in my head, having a chronic condition with no cure I have wanted a cure for years... why would I suddenly 'choose' one to work that costs me money? logic would surely mean the other 15 / 20 types of treatment I desperately wanted to work would have done. She also does acupuncture in certain areas which can also help. Two of my consultants have had experience with a number of patients improving after a course of acupuncture.. are they wrong as well? For some people medicine just doesn't work and for those people you grip hold of anything that makes your life better even for a few hours, People who say they are quacks / a placebo effect really piss me off.

TalkinPeace · 06/07/2015 16:54

Two of my consultants have had experience with a number of patients improving after a course of acupuncture.. are they wrong as well?
No, because the placebo effect is very powerful and doctors are getting better at understanding it and making use of it.

nmg85 · 06/07/2015 16:57

So why has the 'placebo effect' suddenly worked now for me?

MaidOfStars · 06/07/2015 17:02

why would I suddenly 'choose' one to work that costs me money?

The placebo effect is amazing. It's been established that people experience greater placebo effects of they believe the drug they are taking is more expensive.

Couple that with the more general human need to rationalise the choices we make, I'll wager that it is precisely because you have paid money for a "cure" that you get one.

nmg85 · 06/07/2015 17:06

Okay so what about the CBT and the hypnosis that I paid for?

noblegiraffe · 06/07/2015 17:13

What about it? If you want to know if an intervention is more effective than placebo, try looking up some meta analyses.

Or read Trick or Treatment by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst. They summarise the evidence for lots of 'alternative' interventions.

I think the evidence for CBT is supposed to be quite good.

MaidOfStars · 06/07/2015 17:16

Okay so what about the CBT and the hypnosis that I paid for?

Do you mean you paid for these but they didn't work? I don't know why. They didn't hit your particular triggers, they weren't delivered well, it wasn't the right time.

The only thing osteopathy has been shown to be beneficial for is lower back pain, via tissue manipulation (but they aren't doing anything a physio couldn't). Maybe your issue is a lower back problem rather than a bladder problem (I have some expertise in this field, and know that lower back injury can definitely cause bladder problems).

But there's zero evidence that chiropractic or osteopathy can help with the body's normal functioning/restoring balance/infection/colic/asthma/etc.

nmg85 · 06/07/2015 17:16

I have had them all so obviously didn't work that well.

noblegiraffe · 06/07/2015 17:26

Not all medications work for all people all the time. Effective beyond a placebo isn't the same as will always cure everyone.

Chemotherapy doesn't cure everyone's cancer, that doesn't mean it's ineffective.

Some people's eczema will clear up after taking a homeopathic pill. That doesn't mean that homeopathy works. We know that it doesn't.

Scoobydoo8 · 06/07/2015 17:31

I can't wait to read this book.
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00T5H3Y2K?keywords=it's%20all%20in%20your%20head&qid=1436200096&ref_=sr_1_1_twi_1_kin&sr=8-1

There's more to illness than viruses and infections. The mind and its effect on the body and hormones has an influence too imv.

CBT is a talking therapy and improves many peoples' health and wellbeing.