I’m hoping a medical professional could explain, in unbiased language (since there seems to be some animosity towards them), what exactly a chiropractor does, and how they fit into rehabilitation for patients alongside massage therapists and physical therapists. What can a chiropractor do for a patient that a physical therapist cannot?
Additionally, when a chiropractor says a vertebrae is “out of place” or “subluxated” and they “put it back,” what exactly are they doing? No vertebrae stays completely static as they are meant to flex, especially in the neck. Saying they’re putting it back in place makes no sense when it’s just going to move the second you get up from the table.
Thanks.
In: Biology
You asked what it means when a chiropractor says one of your vertebrae is , “out of place”.
It means they’re lying, and you should save your $$$.
If one of your vertebrae were “out of place”, you’d need an ER.
Vertebral subluxation is quackery. Chiropractic “techniques” may help some back pain, I guess, but there is zero good evidence that any of the broad benefits some of its practitioners claim are real. Sometimes they even kill people! No thank you.
They do nothing. Chiropractic is a nonsensical theory told to the inventor by a ghost they met. (Literally, the origin is “a ghost told me”. ) The claims about moving bones or unblocking nerves literally does not happen. You are correct spines don’t work like that and it doesnt even sound right. Every claim made by chiropractic is medically untrue and the whole thing is based on extremely goofy magical thinking that was easy to check is False.
Medical student here. Chiropractic manipulation is quackery but has unfortunately become as mainstream as it is because of good lobbying by chiropractors. So to answer your question, chiropractors do nothing at best, and at worst they cause you to stroke out and die from a vertebral artery dissection or aneurysm.
[removed]
At best, Chiropractic care is high-risk massage therapy for your joints and skeletal structure. Joint popping may be temporary relief, but there is no amount of chiropractic adjustment that will realign your spine, hips or any other part of your body.
At best, you’ll feel better for a short time. At worst, yea… they kill people on accident alot. On average according to Zehr Chiropractic, 33 people per year die from chiropractic adjustments gone wrong, and hundreds more are hospitalized due to a bad chiropractic visit. According to the NIH, the number is 26 deaths.
Unfortunately, there’s not going to be alot of unbiased talk about chiropractic practices and malpractice. There is a plethora of anecdotal evidence that say chiropractors are miracle workers, and just as much counter-claim evidence that they are devil workers preying on your purse strings.
The science, however, shows that most chiropractic adjustments are simply a temporary relief and are not real medicine.
Chiropractic care is a placebo pill than can help you mitigate back pain if it’s used in combination of massage and physical therapy. Unfortunately the risk involved is quite high as this is your spine but for some it’s worth it.
You asked if medical professionals could explain chiropracty. That is like asking a scientist how God works. It’s a religion, not a medical practice.
Does using the “activator method” change any of these responses? I happen to live near Palmer College which is more or less the birthplace of Chiro. Seems like there’s multiple versions of the practice..
You won’t get a lot of answers on reddit other than Chiropratic is quackery.
Which it might well be.
However, from a holistic health approach, one goal of chiropratic adjustment is to ensure that the alignment of your spinal column is as good as it can be, reducing the noise coming from the nervous system allowing the body to ‘hear’ the real problems and work on fixing itself.
It isn’t all about “CRACK and the Pain is GONE!” – there is good quality research going on to determine why so many patients obtain objective benefit from chiropractic adjustment, over above what would be expected from a simple placebo effect.
One difficulty is finding a population large enough who do not know what to expect from a chiropractor to be able to do ‘blind’ trials (some receive a ‘real’ adjustment, some don’t – maybe they get a simple massage or physio-type joint cracks). There is work going on in some corners of the world where such populations do exist.
The number of patients that regularly attend a chiropractor and the on-going demand for newly qualified chiropractors (in New Zealand it is a 5 year course, with 3 years full time study and 2 years of study/internship) indicates, to me at least, that plenty of people get a benefit from visiting a chiropractor that they feel is worth the cost.
Source: son is studying to be a chiro.
Personal experience: went to a chiro for shoulder pain which was expected (per physio) to get worse. For the period of treatment, it didn’t get worse, then I went on holiday and it continued to not get worse and started to get better. I stopped going to the chiro as I didn’t perceive any further benefit to be gained. Shoulder continues to improve.
I’m not totally convinced, but also not dismissing the possibility that some people obtain benefit.
Latest Answers