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'Chiropractors Are Bullshit' (theoutline.com)
From an article on The Outline, submitted by two readers: If you're one of the approximately 80 percent of Americans who have suffered from back pain, you may have been referred to a chiropractor for medical help. In the modern-day internet landscape, you'll find chiropractic celebrities like Dr. Josh Axe (1.7 million Facebook followers), Dr. Billy DeMoss (20,000 Facebook followers), and Dr. Eric Berg (472,000 YouTube subscribers) giving advice that goes beyond managing spinal issues. Both in their offices and on social media, chiropractors have adapted to a marketplace that's demanding more than just pain management: they extol the virtues of an "alkaline diet," tell you how to manage stress with detoxing, and wax scientific about the adrenal gland. [...] Chiropractic care, I'm sorry to say, is little more than the buffoonery of a 19th-century lunatic who derived most of his medical theory from seances. It has not evolved much since its creation. Chiropractic beliefs are dangerously far removed from mainstream medicine, and the vocation's practices have been linked to strokes, herniated discs, and even death. Chiropractors can't replace your doctor, and I'm amazed that they're still even allowed to practice. [...] Though some chiropractors are now making an effort to introduce evidence-based practices into their treatment, chiropractic as a whole hasn't evolved like other areas of medicine -- with hypotheses, experimentation, and peer review. Instead, it was birthed by a strange combination of hocus pocus, guesswork, and strongly held religious beliefs.
They would get the same or better benefits from a professional masseuse, as demonstrated by the studies linked in the article, plus hundreds more. They also would have significantly less chance of death.
Just ask anyone who could barely walk into the Chiropractor's office, and walk out pain-free with a smile.
Chiropractors may be effective at giving temporary relief for back pain, so if you just want the pain to go away for a few days they may be a good solution. But they likely aren't fixing the underlying problem, and there is no evidence or plausible mechanism for fixing your digestion and curing cancer by popping your back.
This article spends almost its entire length going on and on about things like alternative medicine, but almost nothing about the actual resolution of back pain, except with respect to children (which, the article acknowledges, is not something all chiropractors endorse).
I don't buy into any of the nonsense, and my chiropractor doesn't either, but he uses the Impulse tool which doesn't hurt when it makes adjustments and I leave feeling much better than when I arrived. Before making any adjustment, he massages the back muscle to loosen it up and prevent damage. He's given me exercises to strengthen my back muscles to help keep things in alignment--and they work to the point that I go back about once per year when I do something really stupid and throw something completely out of alignment. He specifically said in my first appointment that if I'm coming back twice a week for years, he's not done his job properly.
Several years ago when I popped my scapula out of place while stretching and pinched a nerve (8-9 on the pain scale, didn't sleep a wink that night), the chiropractor put it back in place and the sharp stab instantly became a dull ache that went away after a few days.
I fully accept the idea that there are con artists out there who do the things mentioned in this article. I do not accept that it is universal or that chiropractors are incapable of providing any benefit whatsoever.
If someone is able to walk they can hang from a chinup bar or perform some yoga moves to address their pain. Chiropractic may not be BS in that some people like to be "adjusted" but, it is not a science-based medical treatment.
In all seriousness:
I don't know about the diets they extol, or any other homeopathic remedies they might have,
It's in the summary, so you should. And it is clearly bullshit on the order of anti-vax conspiracy theories or "foodbabe" bullshit. Because why stick to one type of bullshit if you're already a professional bullshitter?
Just ask anyone who could barely walk into the Chiropractor's office, and walk out pain-free with a smile....I know people who've been really happy after their "adjustments."
Good, but that's anecdotal like you can easily find for qigong or crystals. Actual evidence suggests very slight help for a small number of problems. If the people who were barely walking in had chronic lower back pain and were happy and pain free afterward, it was in their head, and they'd be better off doing core exercises probably.
"Chiropractors may be effective at giving temporary relief for back pain, so if you just want the pain to go away for a few days they may be a good solution."
The mainstream medical equivalent is to prescribe a dozen opiate pills to achieve the same result, but with significant downsides. Which is bullshit?
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
Bullshit.
My Dr gave me a referral to a physical therapist that actually helped correct the problem.
Next you are going to tell us the magic crystals and diterary bullshit that chiropractors deal in works too, right?
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
It depends on what the issue is. Yes, there are a lot of Chiropractors who indulge in all kinds of quackery. But Chiropractors are licensed to take X-rays and diagnose issues with the back that don't require surgery. People "throw their back out" doing something they shouldn't have done, and injure their back in such a way that can be solved by a chiropractic adjustment. Think of the equivalent of a jammed finger or dislocated shoulder as one example. Perhaps something like that may solve itself eventually, or perhaps a masseuse might be able to deal with it, but masseuses don't have anywhere near the training a Chiropractor has, and are typically not trained for non muscle related injuries (and masseuse/massage therapy training is significantly more varied across the states than that required for a licensed Chiropractor), whereas a Chiropractor can handle both muscle and non muscle related issues.
A competent Chiropractor can take an X-ray and will refer you to a doctor if there is an injury that is not suitable for their skills, e.g. surgery is required. But back surgery should be the absolute last resort for fixing a back problem. You should always get a second or even third opinion before having back surgery.
I'd avoid any Chiropractor that wants you to visit on an ongoing basis. If that is the case, you would be right in that a masseuse would be a better and cheaper alternative. I have a Chiropractor who is willing to deal with a specific issue and solve it and that's it. I've visited him for a total of 3 sessions for two different back problems in the last 10 years. There's nothing temporary about the relief I got.
Psychology is a another pseudo science that isn't susceptible to the scientific method. There is now a replication crisis among the social sciences. Freud invented psychology because he couldn't make a living as a neuroscientist. But because he was a neuroscientist, he claimed his methods were scientific. Nearly one hundred years later we now have nearly 1/5th of the western population taking anti-depressants (prescribed by doctors and psychiatrists) without any proof that they actually work. Psychology has given rise to people who engage in a kind of shallow self obsession without pain self examination.
An osteopath will be able to recommend all sorts of treatments. Those trained in therapeutic massage and physical therapy have just as much training. There are the true believer chiropractors ("straights") on one end who should be avoided, and those on the other extreme that are basically using modern medical techniques but who call themselves chiropractors because so much of America is convinced that "chiropractor" means "back doctor".
The history of chiropractic was not founded in medicine. They rejected germ theory and believed that general health could be affected by spinal adjustments. That's the foundation of the philosophy, it is not "fringe" except that it has become a minority view. It would be better I think if a lot of modern chiropractors stopped using the name, then the patients could more easily determine who's the quack and who just uses the name for marketing purposes because so many patients don't know the history.
(just like homeopaths, they have a lot of patients who don't know the history, they just see the "all natural ingredients" part and assume it must be good)
There's good ones and bad ones, and I've been to both. The guy I go to now doesn't try to claim chiropratic care can fix and and every thing that might go wrong and he's very straightforward about the limitations of the treatment he provides. The guy I used to see, on the other hand, I could have come in with a hole in my aorta and he'd have tried to massage it out.
One thing that a good chiropractor will do for you that a massage therapist typically won't (in my experience) is provide wellness counseling in the form of stretches and exercises you can do to speed along the healing process and behavioral changes to keep the pain away once it's gone. My experience has borne out that the pain will go away if I don't do the stretches and exercises or incorporate any of the behavioral changes; but, it does take longer without the stretches and exercises; and it's only as permanent as my willingness to adopt the behavioral changes.
The danger comes from incorporating chiropractic care with other forms of "alt medicine", rather than using it as an additional form of treatment on top of proper medical care. Yes, a lot of people do this, and a lot of chiropractors not only allow, but encourage, them to do so. That's how people die under a chiropractor's care.
At the end of the day, it's up to each and every one of us to use a little bit of common sense every once in a while and realize that you probably can't trust the guy who tells you to take a couple drops of some homeopathic "tincture" to get the vibrations from whatever was at one point in that water, and you should probably seek care from someone who hasn't jumped off the deep end.
Unfortunately, my experience is that most chiropractors have done just that, and it makes it difficult, if not dangerous, to try and find a good one.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.