So I went to a chiropractor hehe

[joshw10]

Went to a chiropractor yesterday for the first time. I hurt my back about a month ago, combination from squats and then playing basketball I think, just overall becoming active too quickly after a few years of inactivity. It hurt right on the spine in my lower back and I can't lean backwards very far. I got it x-rayed and it was negative, someone recommended me a chiropractor so I figured what the hell, I'll see what it's about for the life-experience.

During the exam, the chiropractor said he found a misalignment in my spine, which was right around the area that I said I had pain. It would have been nice to see if he had found that same misalignment had I not told him where the pain was, but I guess it doesn't work that way.

Then I got some kind of hot electric massage that was nice, then a couple of back crackings, followed by a nice deep massage for about 25 minutes, then some other kind of massage table with a roller that goes up and down the back for about 10 minutes.

So basically, I got a fancy massage that's partially covered by insurance and cost me about $20. Not too bad a deal I guess =)

 

[KK]

yeah, now tell us how many more times he recommends you coming back to him.

 

[joshw10]

said i should come 6 times

 

[Sc4freak]

Um... did it relieve your pain or not?

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: joshw10
During the exam, the chiropractor said he found a misalignment in my spine, which was right around the area that I said I had pain. It would have been nice to see if he had found that same misalignment had I not told him where the pain was, but I guess it doesn't work that way.

Actually, if you have a good chiropractor, you can walk in without saying a word and after a few minutes he can tell you what parts need adjusted. Sometimes not just where it hurts - for example, my neck causes me problems, but often because there is a knot in the upper right part of my back that is pulling the muscles that lead up to my neck.

 

[TheSiege]

we have a chiropractor in town, you pay 20 bucks or 15 if its cash, and hes does some crappy massage and pops the hell out of you. not bad for 15 bucks

 

[Alex]

Originally posted by: TheSiege
hes does some crappy massage and pops the hell out of you. not bad for 15 bucks

:laugh:
yep thats definitely 15 bucks well spent...

 

[azoomee]

Remember about a year ago I heard a chiropractor advertising that if you were sick (ie migraines, infection!, etc) they could fix it by manipulating your back.

Still curious how that would work

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: TheSiege
we have a chiropractor in town, you pay 20 bucks or 15 if its cash, and hes does some crappy massage and pops the hell out of you. not bad for 15 bucks

Happy ending?

 

[misle]

I went to a really crappy chirpractor.

My neck hurt from sleeping on it wrong and a co-worker recommended this guy. So I go, he takes an X-Ray, then pops my back and neck, does the electro-massage thing and asks me to come back the next day. As I left, I noticed that my neck hurt worse than it did that morning.

But, I go back the next day. They take me back into a little room and have me watch, basically, an infomercial on chiropractors. At this point, the warning flashers are going pretty good. After the infomercial, the doc comes in and asks if I have been in a car wreck and all this crap (basically trying to tell me my back is really out of wack). He then recommends that I come see him 3 times a week for the next year. He then does the cracking and massage.

I go to leave and the front desk stops me and says, "oh, by the way, your insurance doesn't cover any of this so you owe us $75." Nice of them to tell me this after my second visit. :|

Needless to say, I've been warning everybody about that jackass.

 

[jmgonzalez]

Chiropractors are good at working their con job well

You should have at least asked for a happy ending to make it worth the expense

 

[ScottFern]

Hmm, OP what insurance do you have? I am interested to know what type of medical coverage would cover a chiropractor? I have Blue Cross/Blue Shield HMO.

 

[LikeLinus]

Originally posted by: azoomee
Remember about a year ago I heard a chiropractor advertising that if you were sick (ie migraines, infection!, etc) they could fix it by manipulating your back.

Still curious how that would work

They snap your neck. No more pain!

 

[eits]

Originally posted by: azoomee
Remember about a year ago I heard a chiropractor advertising that if you were sick (ie migraines, infection!, etc) they could fix it by manipulating your back.

Still curious how that would work

depends on the infection... ear infections or sinus infections, yeah. but not skin abscesses or anything (at least, i don't believe it... they teach you that it's possible (which it is), but i've yet to see it).

as for migraines, it's one of the quickest and safest ways to get rid of migraines. 9/10 of migraine headaches are cervicogenic headaches anyways. depending on how the muscles are pulling on the bones in your neck and head based on the nerves coming out of the intervertebral foramina, you can get some pretty serious headaches. also, there's an unnamed piece of duramater that connects to the anterior aspect of the posterior arch of c1 and rectus capitus posterior minor which contributes significantly to migraine headaches. if c1 is out, it will pull on the duramater bridge which will pull on the duramater around your brain which will manifest itself in increased cranial pressure and visceral symptoms (like a migraine).

they found this duramater bridge eight years ago at johns hopkins and it was published about in the nejm. chiropractic was mentioned as the main healthcare outlet to help sufferers.

as for your treatment, op, the reason why your doc gave you ultrasound and massage was because your muscles are too fired up for him to give you any kind of proper adjustment. if he tried, it would have just hurt you and he wouldn't have gotten anything to move into place because the muscles are so fired up. there's something that happens with muscles and nerves where the nerve tells the muscle to fire a certain way and the muscle's internal memory wants to tell the brain how it wants to act... the signal goes back to the cord and a reflex occurs within the interneurons. so, instead of sending the signal back to the brain, it goes right back to the muscle, keeping it fired up. so, the nerve is telling it to lock up, essentially. in order to remove that afferent signal, you need to fix the problem with the muscles first, so they won't keep themselves locked up. whenever they're not locked up anymore, then you can get adjusted so the nerves won't tell your muscles to fire up like they were doing before, which would pull the bones out of place, which would only increase the afferentation.

 

[j00fek]

all they do is take your money, just get a rice bag and heat it up

 

[SagaLore]

Originally posted by: azoomee
Remember about a year ago I heard a chiropractor advertising that if you were sick (ie migraines, infection!, etc) they could fix it by manipulating your back.

Still curious how that would work

It involves Applied Kinesiology. All of your organs and muscles are connected via your nervous system and sometimes ailments are caused by problems with your spine through a series of chain reactions in how your body self regulates. If you have a pinched nerve causing a conflict with one of your lymph nodes this could weaken your immune system, etc.

Keep in mind that just like doctors, some chiropractors are cons and quacks. So you need to shop around to until find someone you can trust and uses the methods you prefer.

 

[eits]

Originally posted by: misle
I went to a really crappy chirpractor.

My neck hurt from sleeping on it wrong and a co-worker recommended this guy. So I go, he takes an X-Ray, then pops my back and neck, does the electro-massage thing and asks me to come back the next day. As I left, I noticed that my neck hurt worse than it did that morning.

But, I go back the next day. They take me back into a little room and have me watch, basically, an infomercial on chiropractors. At this point, the warning flashers are going pretty good. After the infomercial, the doc comes in and asks if I have been in a car wreck and all this crap (basically trying to tell me my back is really out of wack). He then recommends that I come see him 3 times a week for the next year. He then does the cracking and massage.

I go to leave and the front desk stops me and says, "oh, by the way, your insurance doesn't cover any of this so you owe us $75." Nice of them to tell me this after my second visit. :|

Needless to say, I've been warning everybody about that jackass.

wow, what a douche. i hope you ran from that office REAL fast and didn't look back.

if you actually DID have to come to get adjusted three times every week for a year, you'd have the worst back i'd ever heard of. that's absurd. also, he should have told you exactly what was wrong and why... that way, you could get a second opinion. it's necessary proper record-keeping and proper patient care.

it sounds like you went to one of the assholes of the profession

this is why it's important to do a little research before you go to just any doctor. there are horrible ones (like this one) and there are really good ones. you don't want to trust just anyone whenever you're dealing with your time, money, health, and nerves.

 

[lokiju]

So did it help?

 

[eits]

Originally posted by: ScottFern
Hmm, OP what insurance do you have? I am interested to know what type of medical coverage would cover a chiropractor? I have Blue Cross/Blue Shield HMO.

as more and more studies are being done in chiropractic, more and more insurance companies are covering chiropractic because the research suggests that *gasp* it actually helps and more and more people want to get better.

 

[eits]

op, you might be sore today because it was your first adjustment. some people get sore after their first adjustment because the body isn't used to it. after about the 2nd or 3rd adjustment, you won't be sore anymore (if you're sore at all). your doctor should have told you that before and after the adjustment (every chiropractor is required by law to have the patient's informed concent to treat as well as providing the patient with information about the risks and benefits... if they decide that they don't want the adjustment, the doctor's supposed to provide them with alternatives). he also should have called you later that night to ask how you were feeling.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: KK
yeah, now tell us how many more times he recommends you coming back to him.

he'll keep 'em coming back for life.

 

[ScottFern]

Thats promising to hear. I know HMO are notorious for denying claims and what not but I will talk to my HR manager and see if she think something like this might be covered.

 

[themusgrat]

Originally posted by: eits

Originally posted by: azoomee
Remember about a year ago I heard a chiropractor advertising that if you were sick (ie migraines, infection!, etc) they could fix it by manipulating your back.

Still curious how that would work

depends on the infection... ear infections or sinus infections, yeah. but not skin abscesses or anything (at least, i don't believe it... they teach you that it's possible (which it is), but i've yet to see it).

as for migraines, it's one of the quickest and safest ways to get rid of migraines. 9/10 of migraine headaches are cervicogenic headaches anyways. depending on how the muscles are pulling on the bones in your neck and head based on the nerves coming out of the intervertebral foramina, you can get some pretty serious headaches. also, there's an unnamed piece of duramater that connects to the anterior aspect of the posterior arch of c1 and rectus capitus posterior minor which contributes significantly to migraine headaches. if c1 is out, it will pull on the duramater bridge which will pull on the duramater around your brain which will manifest itself in increased cranial pressure and visceral symptoms (like a migraine).

they found this duramater bridge eight years ago at johns hopkins and it was published about in the nejm. chiropractic was mentioned as the main healthcare outlet to help sufferers.

as for your treatment, op, the reason why your doc gave you ultrasound and massage was because your muscles are too fired up for him to give you any kind of proper adjustment. if he tried, it would have just hurt you and he wouldn't have gotten anything to move into place because the muscles are so fired up. there's something that happens with muscles and nerves where the nerve tells the muscle to fire a certain way and the muscle's internal memory wants to tell the brain how it wants to act... the signal goes back to the cord and a reflex occurs within the interneurons. so, instead of sending the signal back to the brain, it goes right back to the muscle, keeping it fired up. so, the nerve is telling it to lock up, essentially. in order to remove that afferent signal, you need to fix the problem with the muscles first, so they won't keep themselves locked up. whenever they're not locked up anymore, then you can get adjusted so the nerves won't tell your muscles to fire up like they were doing before, which would pull the bones out of place, which would only increase the afferentation.

Oooh, now I understand... Something about afferation... Anyway, I've always wanted to see a chiropratcor, but never had the money. It would be cool if insurance really did randomly cover it.

 

[eits]

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: KK
yeah, now tell us how many more times he recommends you coming back to him.

he'll keep 'em coming back for life.

i'm pretty sure the op said 6 times. unless the op's life will expire in 2-3 weeks, i don't think you're right (again).

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: eits

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: KK
yeah, now tell us how many more times he recommends you coming back to him.

he'll keep 'em coming back for life.

i'm pretty sure the op said 6 times. unless the op's life will expire in 2-3 weeks, i don't think you're right (again).

of course he wouldn't tell him "come see me for life". he'll start out with 6 times because that is probably the insurance limit.

but he will have some spiel about him needed to come back in the future.