Using Chiropractor for Recovery

Bigger Stronger Leaner Powerlifting & Strength Sports
1

Well, this may not be the right place, but considering all the injuries associated with strength sports I thought I try my luck here.

About two weeks ago I thought I injured my spine and from the recommendation of a fellow PLer I went to a chiropractor. I’ve been to chiropractors in the past and have always been a bit skeptical.

First of all, they do a bunch of tests to see if your body is a symmetrical as it should be? These tests are x-rays, mirror images, ROM, and two scales one for each foot. Now, I am not a doctor, but some things have led me to believe that it is all a part of a scam on making you believe that your body, spine, or muscleskeletal system is abnormal.

Simple things like loss of your normal curvature of your neck and the vertical alignment of your spine are put into question. They then convince you that sublaxations, or misalignments, or a loss of your neck curve is the reasons for many ailments. ie back pain, headaches, high blood pressure, etc.

My feeling is that all humans regardless of activity will not have the exact specs of a “perfect” spine. IMO, the chiropractic society has exploited this fact and falsely leads the public to believe that this can be corrected by “getting adjusted”. The normal minimum treatment period of 12-24 months for people with sublaxations is recommended and the x-rays will be revisited at that time. Meanwhile you have dumped hundreds of dollars on treatment in hopes of your adjustment holding?

After that period passes you find minimal to no improvement and he recommends that you continue treatment until the problem is corrected, which will never f_ucken happen.

Now tell me how will making adjustments actually move your spine? Most of the time the chiropractor will use the same adjustments on different patients with different problems. How do they move the individual disks with the same movement? The truth is the only thing happening during those adjustments is the release of Synovial fluid to lubricate the joints and give momentary relief to your pain. Other than that its just a bunch of smoke and mirrors.

Has anyone else been suckered into this chiro trap? Is there something that I am missing? I feel it?s a flat out scam. Sorry for the lengthy post!

2

I’m glad you posted this.

I’ve been trying to get through a back injury sustained while deadlifting a little while back. Last week, I went to a chiro for the first time ever. I wasn’t sold either way on chiropractic, but in my frustration, I wanted to give something else a try.

After an initial X-Ray and two adjustments (and another one scheduled for this coming Saturday), I’m starting to look at it with a similar mindset to yours. “Back cracking”, it seems to me, does not leave much room for tailoring treatment to a specific case.

So far, I’m not in too deep from a money standpoint, but after one or two more treatments, I’ll have to evaluate whether I feel this is a justified expense. Right now, I’m thinking not.

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I’ve gone to chiropractors for years, just recently switched to a local chiro that also works out and believes in lifting heavy.

I get my shoulder and mid thoracic/neck worked on. I compete in Figure and have been posing alot lately, before this chiro my right shoulder would always roll forward during any lat activation. It IS getting better. He does very specific adjustments on me and they vary depending on my level of pain or symmetry of my shoulders.

I would have to say I like chiropractic and have seen some great improvements. The adjustments have allowed me more range of motion in that shoulder as well which in turn helps me to recruit my back, trap, scap muscles while doing back and shoulder exercises.

If you’re not getting the results you expected, you should tell your chiro or seek another. You both mentioned going for pain… is the pain gone?

4

You gotta find someone you trust. I have only had two experiences…One who always gave me the adjustments and never asked me to come back unless I felt like I needed it. And another who ran all these damn tests and then tried to get $600 bucks from me to fix the problems. I think the bad ones give the good ones a bad name.

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The Chiro I SAW WAS GOOD…

I was very skeptical but after a Deadlift and Gymnastics injury and the Dr offering surgery I gave it a go. I lost a lot of range in my spine due to a prolapse disc. I could barely get within a feet of touching my toes! This is from a guy that can get my palms flush with NO WARM UP. Massive reduction in range and I had the most obscene pain when coughing, sneezing or bending my spine forwards.

One of my discs was prolapsed and touching/ aggrevating on my sciatic nerve :(.

I saw the Chiro, cracking etc treatment, remedial exercises etc and I could touch the floor again. But I wasn’t fully recovered and we got to a point where HE TOLD ME that he could not do anything else for me. He told me this.

He didn’t give me any BS about my cns, alignments etc effecting my allergies (I have none) etc line.

I saw an Osteopath and he was SH!TE…maybe he was just a crap one? No improvements within 6 sessions. I ditched him.

The crazy thing is over one weekend the pain dropped a lot. Started to OLift and train again and now I am 99% and probably as best as I’ll be.

Try and find a good Chiro. If within 6 sessions he hasn’t made improvements he probably isn’t a good one. Like most people in life you get people that are good at what they do and others that aren’t.

Koing

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I use the hell out of chiros. You need to find one that is good and not all into the spiritual/weirdo blah blah blah.

Get one that does ART, Graston Techniques, electro stim, etc. You can often find one that lifts also and then you’re golden.

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Here’s what wiki says on Chiro’s. Glad to hear some people are receiving positive results.

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The Chiropractor has worked wonders for me over the years. It beats taking pills or going under the knife! I have been to a few scams though. One guy tried selling me 500 dollar shoes and some cheap protein powder. You just need find a good one. Stay away from the ones that push supplements and expensive shoes on you!

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I have to disagree with the negative references to Chiros and agree with the Positive ones. However, as others have mentioned, you can either get a butcher who doesn’t have the faintest idea of what they’re doing and makes the whole industry look bad and it’s not hard when people are skeptical already, or you can get a very decent one who knows what they are doing and does it damn well.

I have been blessed with a top notch chiropractor who has even become a mate. Many times I have told him “you haven’t done jack!” and he’ll suck it up and keep working me over until he guarantees a benefit.

In the last two years I have been regularily seeing him every two weeks (once a week come fight time) he has been a tremendous help!

Sick? I don’t get sick! It has been researched and proven that patients who received regular chiropractic treatment (by good chiros) have less ailments because their bodies heal better, recover better and just function better!

Why are over 90% of olympic athletes receiving chiro treatment? Hmmmm, must be a conspiracy right?

The journal articles are chock a block full of great research on chiropractic, be a little smarter and find a decent chiro before you write off the lot of them.

My was only 1 year old and had re-current ear infections. Doctors, specialists, medicines, drops and other treatment did nothing for him!
We finnaly were refered to my Chiropractor by a friend and he took a small feel of his neck and noticed he had slight sublaxations which were affecting the nervous supply to his ears which help drain fluid from the ears.
A couple of cracks later and he has never ever had an ear infection again! 2 years now and not one infection! But he does go at least once every month and a half for a check up or if he has a big fall.
The other thing was he had a very low appetite and as he felt his spine he noticed some thorasic sublaxations which affect his well being. Without even mentioning a thing to him, he asked “Is his appetite low?” and we said “Yes”

He adjusted that too and said, you’re going to find that in a few days his appetite is really going to increase. lol
To that I thought c’mon, now you’re pushing it.

But like clock work four or five days later my son became so aggressive towards food that it was crazy! Since then everything has been great.

I too, used to get the same ear infections. After a few treatments, I never got them again!

I’ve become fitter, faster, stronger and I heal and recover quicker and I attribute it to Chiropractic and the follow up treatments I implore based on his reccomendations.

Like others on here though, my Chiro lifts and is a T-man all the way.

He even checked out this site to my reccomendation and loved it lol.

Don’t assume all chiros are canniving thieves, some of them actually do care and do their job properly and this is no different from a GP, a physio or anyone else. Some are incompetant schemers and some are sincere practioners.