Chiropractic

In article <[email hidden]>,

roadkill said:

Hi all,

I'm curious about this chiropractic thing...

I have always had occaisional lower back pain. I
usually just tried to do the "use it and work it out",
which takes a day or two. Then, over two years ago,
I suffered from some lower back pain that got steadily
worse over a month's time, and I went to see my doctor.
He thought the type of pain I was having seemed consistent
with an irritated or pinched sciatic (spelling?) nerve,
and I would have to let it work itself out. After another
month of gradual worsening, I was almost bed-ridden, and
my doctor said the only thing he could do would involve
surgery, to which I said "no way".

Good move. Surgery should always be a last option when
it comes to backs.

Quoted message said:

I had never considered
a chiropracter something I was interested in, but I went
to one that my brother recommended because I got desperate.
He worked a veritable miracle - and I learned that the pain
didn't necessarily originate from where it was felt, etc...

Anyway, how he explained it pretty much made sense,
(spine and muscles working together in a fairly
complex "weave" to support your weight in a balanced,
symetrical way - even small mis-alignments can have
an effect on the over-all arrangment, etc...) but I
started to think about it, and felt that it didn't seem
likely that he could be directly, with precision, knowing
exactly what to do with such a complex "system". Even
though he seemed "on to something" when he pushed and pulled
and discovered that manipulating my upper back relieved the
lower back pain, his "adjustments" seemed most likely just
shifting things around so they had an opportunity to
re-settle in better harmony. It worked, though, where my
doctor professed helplessness.

Now, when my back pain returns, I lay on the floor and just
stretch around a bit, kind of push my back flat against
the floor, maybe pull a little on the back of my head,
stuff like that, and the pain goes away.

Now, I'm not stupid - I know that the kind of "adjustments"
that the chiropracter was doing are not something you
should try to do on yourself (I'm not even sure HE should
try to do them, either). What I am doing amounts to
basically stretching, with a little focus on the areas
that I know that he found success in relieving the pain.

Its worked like a charm - I never went back to the chiropracter
(and am skeptical enough, I probably never will). With this
simple approach to just "ironing out the kinks" in my upper back,
the lower back pain never gets very bad, and always resolves
itself very quickly. I'm fairly convinced the reason I get
back pain at all is because I am out of shape, and the
long-term solution for me is exercise.

So, I would not consider myself a proponent of chiropractic,
at least not of spending lots of money on a regular "chiropractic
regimen". I do, however, find it interesting that its ideas
helped me, and that my doctor seemed unable to figure out this
relatively simple thing...

Thoughts ?

That's the problem -- the back is a complex system and nobody
(including chiropractors) really understands it.

However, you have to be pretty blindly obstinate to refuse
to admit that many people do get relief from back pain by
going to chiropractors. There are probably other approaches
that would also work. Certainly, much back pain is caused by
the general flabbiness of Americans, who therefore have weak
back muscles (and abs, which doesn't sound like it should
have anything to do with back pain, but does).

My biggest objection to chiropractors is their nutty
"subluxation" theory. If only they could chuck that out
the window and figure out what it is they're actually
doing, they might get some mainstream acceptance finally.

-- David Wright :: alphabeta at prodigy.net
These are my opinions only, but they're almost always correct.
"If I have not seen as far as others, it is because giants
were standing on my shoulders." (Hal Abelson, MIT)

[email hidden] (David Wright) wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

roadkill said:

Hi all,

I'm curious about this chiropractic thing...
....
Thoughts ?

That's the problem -- the back is a complex system and nobody
(including chiropractors) really understands it.

However, you have to be pretty blindly obstinate to refuse
to admit that many people do get relief from back pain by
going to chiropractors. There are probably other approaches
that would also work. Certainly, much back pain is caused by
the general flabbiness of Americans, who therefore have weak
back muscles (and abs, which doesn't sound like it should
have anything to do with back pain, but does).

My biggest objection to chiropractors is their nutty
"subluxation" theory. If only they could chuck that out
the window and figure out what it is they're actually
doing, they might get some mainstream acceptance finally.

Thanks for the confirmation - that's pretty much what I was
thinking - very well-spoken 🙂

"roadkill" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi all,

I'm curious about this chiropractic thing...

I have always had occaisional lower back pain. I
usually just tried to do the "use it and work it out",
which takes a day or two. Then, over two years ago,
I suffered from some lower back pain that got steadily
worse over a month's time, and I went to see my doctor.
He thought the type of pain I was having seemed consistent
with an irritated or pinched sciatic (spelling?) nerve,
and I would have to let it work itself out. After another
month of gradual worsening, I was almost bed-ridden, and
my doctor said the only thing he could do would involve
surgery, to which I said "no way". I had never considered
a chiropracter something I was interested in, but I went
to one that my brother recommended because I got desperate.
He worked a veritable miracle - and I learned that the pain
didn't necessarily originate from where it was felt, etc...

Anyway, how he explained it pretty much made sense,
(spine and muscles working together in a fairly
complex "weave" to support your weight in a balanced,
symetrical way - even small mis-alignments can have
an effect on the over-all arrangment, etc...) but I
started to think about it, and felt that it didn't seem
likely that he could be directly, with precision, knowing
exactly what to do with such a complex "system". Even
though he seemed "on to something" when he pushed and pulled
and discovered that manipulating my upper back relieved the
lower back pain, his "adjustments" seemed most likely just
shifting things around so they had an opportunity to
re-settle in better harmony. It worked, though, where my
doctor professed helplessness.

Now, when my back pain returns, I lay on the floor and just
stretch around a bit, kind of push my back flat against
the floor, maybe pull a little on the back of my head,
stuff like that, and the pain goes away.

Now, I'm not stupid - I know that the kind of "adjustments"
that the chiropracter was doing are not something you
should try to do on yourself (I'm not even sure HE should
try to do them, either). What I am doing amounts to
basically stretching, with a little focus on the areas
that I know that he found success in relieving the pain.

Its worked like a charm - I never went back to the chiropracter
(and am skeptical enough, I probably never will). With this
simple approach to just "ironing out the kinks" in my upper back,
the lower back pain never gets very bad, and always resolves
itself very quickly. I'm fairly convinced the reason I get
back pain at all is because I am out of shape, and the
long-term solution for me is exercise.

So, I would not consider myself a proponent of chiropractic,
at least not of spending lots of money on a regular "chiropractic
regimen". I do, however, find it interesting that its ideas
helped me, and that my doctor seemed unable to figure out this
relatively simple thing...

Thoughts ?

He made sense. He helped you.
You are not sure he's qualified? You won't go back?
You sound stupid. The guy probably does those adjustments 30-40 times in any
given day and probably has done so for anywheres from 10-30 years.
What is it with some people? They listen to ignoramouses too much, that's
what.

"stuart" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

He made sense. He helped you.
You are not sure he's qualified? You won't go back?
You sound stupid.

Hmm... not a very insightful response. I think I made it
clear that why I won't go back is because I don't need to.
It _would_ be stupid to continue to pay money for something
you don't need.

Additionally, just because he was able to help me doesn't
mean that everything in his "routine" is credible. Like
I said, how he helped me seemed reducible to something I
could reproduce myself without really "knowing" anything -
just going by intuition.

Quoted message said:

The guy probably does those adjustments 30-40 times in any
given day and probably has done so for anywheres from 10-30 years.

So ? What does that prove ? That he's an "expert" ? Right...
That's like saying that the televangelist that gives the same
sermon numerous times a day for 20 years must really know
how to "save" the people that he's fleecing.

FYI - the chiropractor that I saw (recommended by my brother)
was a young guy - early 30's, and admitted to only being out
of his chiropractic training for a couple years (not that I held
that against him).

Quoted message said:

What is it with some people? They listen to ignoramouses
too much, that's what.

Its hard to tell who to listen to, though I think you've
made it clear, at least in your case, who _not_ to listen to...

Quoted message said:

"stuart" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

He made sense. He helped you.
You are not sure he's qualified? You won't go back?
You sound stupid.

Hmm... not a very insightful response. I think I made it
clear that why I won't go back is because I don't need to.
It _would_ be stupid to continue to pay money for something
you don't need.

Additionally, just because he was able to help me doesn't
mean that everything in his "routine" is credible. Like
I said, how he helped me seemed reducible to something I
could reproduce myself without really "knowing" anything -
just going by intuition.

Quoted message said:

The guy probably does those adjustments 30-40 times in any
given day and probably has done so for anywheres from 10-30 years.

So ? What does that prove ? That he's an "expert" ? Right...
That's like saying that the televangelist that gives the same
sermon numerous times a day for 20 years must really know
how to "save" the people that he's fleecing.

FYI - the chiropractor that I saw (recommended by my brother)
was a young guy - early 30's, and admitted to only being out
of his chiropractic training for a couple years (not that I held
that against him).

Quoted message said:

What is it with some people? They listen to ignoramouses
too much, that's what.

Its hard to tell who to listen to, though I think you've
made it clear, at least in your case, who _not_ to listen to...

Clearly, Stuart is a right-bleeding [censored]. However, there are times when
Chiropractic is a good treatment for back pain. A lot of the younger guys are
very aware of things like posture, computer usage, etc and will offer some good
advice on preventing back and neck strain.

Massage therapy is often worth trying and if you don't get relief from that,
you may want to consider acupuncture.