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
Physically, chiropractic is basically a combination of really halfhearted massage and really lazy physical therapy. The reason it works, to the degree that it works, is that both massage and physical therapy are extraordinarily beneficial. Good physical therapy and good massage can absolutely do freaking wonders for the healing process, and so something that sort of half heartedly combines small bits of both of them is probably going to have some positive therapeutic effect.
I will add that part of the reason massage is so effective is that it releases a lot of endorphins in the muscles, and “adjustments” also release some endorphins, so there’s that.
But of course, all of the claims by chiropractors are absolute woo, and chiropractic adjustments have caused numerous significant injuries and deaths because it is really absolutely unhinged. Yet it has some small therapeutic impact by dint of overlap with massage and PT, so insurance will usually pay for it, so it is accepted.
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