Chiropractic Quackery

[bladespark]

Fascinating. I always have heard that one should be very, very careful in choosing a chiropractor, as the spine isn't something you want just anybody messing around with. (And apparently accredidation and certification standards among chiropractors are very spotty.) But I really had no idea that there was such a high percentage of scam artists, quacks, false inflation of problems, scare tactics, and other fun abuse of fellow humans for profit amongst the ranks of chiropractors. This article rather reminds me of things I've read about auto mechanics! But I'd rather have some quack screwing about with my car than with my central nervous system, thank you!

What happens when healthy people go to a Chiropractor. A very interesting, (though admittedly skeptic-leaning) look into Chiropracty. Choose your chiropractor with care, and don't let one scare you into treatment you don't need!

(Oh, and a "subluxation" in chiropractic terms is a place where your spine is very slightly out of alignment, which is supposed to result in all sorts of horrible conditions, but which as yet has not actually been scientifically proved to exist at all.)

Edit: I just finished reading a detailed account of one of the people mentioned on the above page. It's scary! The guy reported what even I can recognize as potential heart attack symptoms in one case, and the chiropractor offered to adjust his ribs. Meep.

Comments

[kiwihunter8.livejournal.com]

I have two friends who are not financially well off, but they both have succumbed in the past to chiropractors, both are of the mostly 'hands off' variety...sort of like the story in paragraph 6, I believe, with the egg and potato.


For one of my friends it's called 'network chiropractic' and this guy has you hold your arms out and has you push against his arm and stuff, and he tests you for muscle weakness. Supposedly your muscles have 'memory' and can answer questions your mind can't. So, his idea is that a bad back could be a physical manifestation of your mom not loving you enough, etc. Based on whether or not you can 'push back', your muscles/body wisdom is telling you stuff that your brain can't. *winces*

The second friend goes to a different kind where they mostly just pass their hands over parts of your body in a almost psychic adjustment. She says you can "feel" the adjustments.

I feel so bad that they can't see they're being taken. And the 2nd lady is college educated, if that means anything.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Heh. I'm not sure if that's a testament to how easy it is to ignore education and get drawn in, or a testament to how inadequate our modern education system is for teaching critical thinking skills.

[kiwihunter8.livejournal.com]

I vote with the 2nd. Personally I've found myself pulled into all kinds of nonsense most of my life, and I think had I been taught some critical thinking skills earlier on, it would have been less likely to happen.

Instead, I had to stumble upon it later in life.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

*nods* Yeah. I never did anything really dumb because of lack of logic skills, but I had a few close calls.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

I say the first. It's amazing how many really educated and intelligent people fall for something they want to believe in. Look at faith healers, look at televangelists - look at the Nigerian E-mail scams. It's amazing how many knowledgable, sensible people can get dragged in when they WANT to believe it.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

True. I think the desire to believe is a really big part of it, too. Particularly when it comes to quack medicine and faith healing. Sick people desperately want to believe in miracle cures. Which is part of what makes some of these things so sad. People taking advantage of the sick and desperate like that is just... sad.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

Almost as sad is that some of the practioners believe their own spiel and really do think that contorting your spine will cure your diabetes or whatever

[kainhighwind-dr.livejournal.com]

Yeah I've been to a few quacks/scam artists, I think. This one guy was a huge (like, unhealthily overweight) and intimidating, shifty individual. Went to him only once when my mom's boyfriend brought me there and raved about him; I found the guy creepy, and his methods violent and painful.

My current guy seems reasonable. He won't do adjustments that are known to be dangerous in the wrong kind of patient, and seems to use techniques that are just logical to correct kinks and stressed ligaments. He's really gentle and careful, but doesn't do any of that "aura adjustment" quackery stuff. He's the official practitioner of many a sports team and event, and does work on famous folk too, so I trust him more than most. But yeah... considering you can drop dead on the table from the wrong kind of adjustment, you have to choose carefully.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Luckily I haven't needed to have anybody mess about with my joints yet. Really if I were having back trouble, I'd rather go to a spa and get a nice massage than have somebody "adjust" my spine. Most of the descriptions I've read sound like a chiropractor visit is purely painful, rather than being painful that ends up feeling awesome the way a good, hard massage is.

[kainhighwind-dr.livejournal.com]

Oh I hear ya! I totally prefer massage, and have thought about switching many of my chiro visits to massages instead. I find some of the pops and unkinkings I get from a chiro visit really help, but other times not. Depends I guess on what I've done that's made my joints seize up on me. I have sort of mixed feelings about the whole thing though. Seems pricey, usually, for the work that gets done. I get similar results leaning backward over the edge of my bed. *LOL*

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

Good chiropractic treatment is the second kind of pain, that which ends up feeling awesome. I miss getting treatment three times a week.

[sparkindarkness.livejournal.com]

See, that chirpractor sounds fine, because it sounds more like a form of physiotherapy than anything

[kainhighwind-dr.livejournal.com]

Yeah I think that's the thing. He classifies as a "sports medicine" specialist, in fact, and his technique is essentially careful joint, spine and muscle manipulation to relieve injury, break up scar tissue, etc. He tends to car accident victims as well, to gradually get them mobile again, and help them avoid the pitfalls of drastic surgery.

It's like there's a big discrepancy in the "types" of practitioners in the chiropractic world, because I have been to both kinds (the ones like mine, and the weirdos discussed in the article), and they are very distinct in their methods and rationale.

[silveradept]

Oog. Reading that, you woud think chiropracters are yet another group of snake-oil salespeople looking to make a quick buck off an unsuspecting populace.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Ya think?

Though of all the groups followed by quackwatch, Chiropractors are pretty much the first group I've encountered so far where the quackwatch people tell you that there's some good to be had in visiting one, if you can just fine the right one. So they're still less quacky than some things out there.

[silveradept]

Well, it looks like this is one of the "grain f truth" ideas, where in certain circumstances, done by the right people with the right knowledge, the effect desired may actualy be producible. And then there are the people that use it as a cure-all.

[emirasan.livejournal.com]

Chiropractors do work, but yes, you do have to find a good reliable one. My mother really messed her back up several years ago and just happened to be lucky enough to find out a friend of hers from HS had become a chiropractor. It took a couple years starting with sessions every week and tapering off to get her back lined back out and she has been better for it ever since. I too have my own back problems, and had gone to a chiropractor for a short time while I could afford it. He was very gentle and always told me "If this hurts let me know" so that he would know not to do it again. Yes, sometimes the adjustments did hurt for a second or so as they were done, but the relief afterward was worth it. I have duel curvatures of the spine at my neck and lower back (I've had xrays done) and will when I can find another good chiropractor to try to finish getting them fixed by way of reallignment.

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

I agree that most of them are quacks, but I ended up lucky enough to work for a really good one. He was hands on and did things himself. It was so nice getting treatments three times a week. I still miss it and it's been almost a year since I stopped working there. A good adjustment feels fabulous.

They can't cure everything they say they can, but sometimes I wonder if some of the stuff regarding the immune system was right. I'm one of those who normally catches everything that goes around, but from the time I started getting chiropractic treatments in March of 2006, the only sicknesses I've had have been a couple of sinus infections, and they were very mild. Among the three or so I've had, I've been laid up for about one day total (and I used to miss weeks of school at a time from these). I haven't gotten a single infectious disease. So, I wonder...the timing is mighty strange and for me to just abruptly stop getting sick is even stranger. I didn't even get sick my entire pregnancy when the immune system is suppressed.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Interesting. It might mean something, or it might just be a meaningless coincidence. Maybe it's a result of having less pain, so your body has extra energy to spare for immune system stuff? I know that chronic pain depresses the immune system something awful, so maybe even intermittent back paint and such could make a difference? Dunno. It's one of those things where it's impossible to really pin down the cause, which is why it would be nice to see a really good, carefully constructed double blind test on chiropractic techniques, but from what I've read so far, there haven't been many studies done at all, and what little there is is very inconclusive.

I found a more detailed account of one of the visits mentioned on that link, it was downright scary. The guy described the symptoms of an arterial blockage that could turn into a heart attack at any moment, and the chiropractor didn't even notice, he just said that it must be something wrong with the alignment of his ribs and tried to talk the guy into a four month course of daily treatments. *twitch* I'm not even medically trained at all, and I know that chest pain with associated left arm numbness or pain is a horrible sign and you should go to a doctor right away.

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

That is scary. I thought everyone knew that was typical heart attack symptoms for a man. That was one of the things I liked about my boss. If what he was doing wasn't helping, he told them to go get other tests done like an MRI.

[bladespark.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you lucked out in finding one of the good ones then!

[firebyrd.livejournal.com]

Yep! When I saw the interview was for a chiropractic place, I almost turned around and went home, but I really needed a job so I could get my African grey, so I stayed. I'm glad I did because I now know a few chiropractors are good (I was convinced all were bad before).