“Systematic reviews of controlled clinical studies of treatments used by chiropractors have found no evidence that chiropractic manipulation is effective, with the possible exception of treatment for back pain.[8] A 2011 critical evaluation of 45 systematic reviews concluded that the data included in the study “fail[ed] to demonstrate convincingly that spinal manipulation is an effective intervention for any condition.”[10] Spinal manipulation may be cost-effective for sub-acute or chronic low back pain, but the results for acute low back pain were insufficient.[11] No compelling evidence exists to indicate that maintenance chiropractic care adequately prevents symptoms or diseases.[12]”
I know people that swear by it which I can kind of understand if you have pain and they “pop” something and you feel better. But is it really helping if you have to keep going back?
I wonder if it’s a placebo effect. Like I go for a back massage every month or so and feel good for a few weeks but I’m fully aware it’s just muscle pain relief and not some permanent fix.
Muscle pain relief is pain relief. I don’t go to a chiropractor and I’m confident most of them are selling snake oil but I kinda view them as a next level masseuse.
If I were more comfortable with strangers touching me a massage might be nice. A chiropractor sounds like a next level up. I feel relief when I get a good back crack.
hey even if it is just the placebo if it still works and its not harmful who cares
I don’t believe in it, and I’ll never go, but my girlfriend does.
Yes, she has to keep going back, but when they “pop” the correct thing, she’s pain free for weeks. When she holds off going, she’s in pain and can’t sleep until she goes.
I personally don’t trust them, and it’s a lot of money for temporary relief, but I guess it kinda works? As long as you’re fine with the trade-off being fucking paralyzed when they crank your neck at the speed of sound.
Honestly, your girlfriend would be far, far better off going to a competent physical therapist. It sounds like there’s a muscular weakness that’s allowing a joint to not stay in place.
In almost all cases, people will get better long-term results by doing physical therapy rather than going to a chiropractor.
There are good chiropractors who are just trying to treat pain. 95% of them are woowoo worshipping morally bankrupt bastards. Even those guys can be helpful if what you’re looking for is short term care for an injury that’s in the process of healing.
They are not good for treating chronic pain. They may be able to help you manage your pain in the short term while you seek real treatment. But over time, your risk of injury from a chiropractor only goes up. You should limit your exposure to chiropractic ‘therapy’ to as few sessions as possible, and the second they suggest they can treat anything other than a temporary injury, find someone else. It won’t be hard they’re fucking everywhere.
Physiotherapy is generally recommended for acute (and I believe chronic) injuries by actual medical doctors, so you should generally go to that over chiros.
The thing is, this study is talking about “chiropractic manipulation” which is a very specific thing. (With that clicker thingy I think?) The thing is, chiropractors tend do do lots of different therapies, like stretching and massage. So you could go to a chiropractor who performs some kind of massage which is effective at temporary pain relief.
I will add, as someone with a connective tissue disorder, that a quick “pop” can help a subluxated/dislocated joint, but that’s something that can and should be done by an actual physician. And if someone has joints that are especially unstable (for example, bc of a connective tissue disorder), subluxations/dislocations can happen pretty regularly.
This is NOT a defense of chiropractors. And chiropractors are even more dangerous for people like me because it’s easier for them to seriously damage our joints. Go to a PCP, a rheumatologist, a physical therapist, it doesn’t matter, just go to a real doctor.
My wife went to a chiropractor weekly for the last few months of her pregnancy (the chiro office specialized in pregnancy chiropractic). It helped with managing some of the back pain she already had plus the new ones. The best way she described it was like a massage for your bones, feels good and alleviates pain in the short term but doesn’t fix anything long term
I used to see a chiro, stopped while I was pregnant after he ‘treated’ PGP. (I’m hypermobile, and pregnancy made everything ready to dislocate.) Daily pain went from 5/6 (manageable, barely) to a 9 and severe mobility limitations.
I was slowly moving, but able to move before that appointment. Could barely walk, and climbing stairs was not happening for months after.
A physio realigned everything, and I walked out of the first appointment and could take stairs again. Ended up at a specialist dealing with the aftermath of that chiros treatment.
Physiotherapy is my first stop now, and I will never set foot in a chiropractor’s office ever again.
I messed up my hip once… couldn’t get it right … super painful. Chiropractor did it up and was ok from then on. Who knows!
Ex had an issue. 6 treatments and she was done for good, never went back. So yes, sometimes they know what they’re doing sometimes it works.
Painting the whole profession as witch doctors? Meh, they’re not touching my neck, but I’ll listen to what they say. Educated and licensed doctors and nurses can be total fruitcakes as well.
They get paid a lot less per hour, have less support staff, and less equipment. Hence any given unit of time they spend with you costs less. Additionally you have more options of which to choose.
Been to a doc recently? Think of how fast they try to get you out of the room. Feels like you are begging them to please listen to you. Well a chiropractor can spend the time talking to a patient. Of course you feel better, someone heard you complain for over 30 seconds and really listened to you. And if you weren’t listened to you, you just go find another one.
It doesn’t, but it might be perceived as treatment.
Suppose you ask your GP to make it rain because your garden is dry and they tell you to go away. Then you go to a chiropractor that talks to you about your garden and then performs a complex ritual that takes a half hour or so. 2 days later it rains.
Clearly you’ve never been to a physiotherapist. It’s usually always a 30-60min appointment and they spend the entire time with you, bonus is they are actually trying to fix your problem instead of just temporary pain relief so you keep coming back forever. Not to mentioned they are board certified and didn’t get their certificate from a cracker jack box.
