Chiropractor, physiotherapy, doctor or other?

Tabby
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Chiropractor, physiotherapy, doctor or other?

Postby Tabby » Sat Mar 25, 2017 12:22 am

Who do you most rely on for treating pain due to injury? Does it make a difference what kind of pain/injury?

Typically I go to the doctor who, at least in the case of my doctor, sends me to physio. I've asked my doctor about chiropractor before and though she didn't say anything specifically bad, her body language said she didn't like them.

This week I went to a chiropractor on the advice of my DH, in part because I could get in right away. Everything seems on the up-an-up but when I was telling him about my previous battle scars and trips to physio, I could swear his eyes very subtly rolled. Later on he made a comment that had a subtle hint that chiropractors were better than doctors or physiotherapists for treating pain (I possibly imagined this but it was the feeling I had).

Is it some kind of rivalry or are these different health care professionals opposed to each others approach? I find myself with a bit of unease - I've always put faith in what the professionals advise me and though I haven't received any contradicting advise, I feel like I've detected that one type doesn't like what the other does and vice versa. How do I know which one is best for me in these conditions? Would it be better or worse for my back if I saw both at the same time? Can physio complement chiropractic treatment or would it undo it?

I'd stay home and take some pills but that would mean going to my doctor which I haven't done yet and probably will do but I want to relieve my back pain ASAP and I can't get in to see her for another week or so.

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Re: Chiropractor, physiotherapy, doctor or other?

Postby Nijm » Sat Mar 25, 2017 12:48 am

Physiotherapy strengths and stretches the muscles/ligaments.
Chiros move the bones that are held together with the muscles/ligaments. So if you think about moving around a bone with an outside force, the muscles will pull the bone back into the place it was at. The second best post-injury care I ever had was a combo of massage/chiro/physio (massage to soften/relax the muscle/chiro to move the bones/physio to strength the muscle to hold the bone back in place). The first best post-injury was when I used cupping (done by the Physio, to move the skin that had attached itself to the muscle (similar to scar tissue)) and then did muscle strengthing/stretching.

Often the physio/chiro do not work together if everyone is not on the same page.

What type of injury is it?

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Re: Chiropractor, physiotherapy, doctor or other?

Postby Moutaineer » Sat Mar 25, 2017 1:56 am

A colleague of mine's wife was recently paralysed from the neck down by her chiropractor. Which has merely reinforced my bias against them.

Start with the doctor. Get a diagnosis, then get treatment appropriate to the diagnosis.

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Re: Chiropractor, physiotherapy, doctor or other?

Postby Tsavo » Sat Mar 25, 2017 4:30 am

What is your exact diagnosis?

The state of affairs with chiropractic is that it has only been shown to help with lower back pain (nothing else) but it wasn't superior than PT or medical modalities or massage.

Chiropractic is not scientific and so if it appears to works, it works by the the same principles as massage or just the passage of time.

Chiropractic training is a joke and it shows.

PT is often better than medical treatments (conservative and surgical), by the way.

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Chisamba
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Re: Chiropractor, physiotherapy, doctor or other?

Postby Chisamba » Sat Mar 25, 2017 11:22 am

Wow, the anti force came on strong. Here is a quick link with positive bent. http://www.thegoodbody.com/chiropractic ... ics-facts/

Do doctors kill people? Yes they do. Are there extremely unfortunate chiropractor injuries. Yes. Anything that is done a million times a day will statistically have some negative effects.

I think doctors see more of the negative effects of the chiropractor. No one goes to the doctor and says, I'm cured. They only go if the chiro did not work.

Chiros see a lot of patients who suffered for long gone periods and the doctor didn't help. No one goes to the chiro feeling well because the doctor fixed them.

So because they do not see each others successes, they do not always have a fair opinion of each other.

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Re: Chiropractor, physiotherapy, doctor or other?

Postby Tarlo Farm » Sat Mar 25, 2017 12:27 pm

The essential question is, what kind of pain? Then always go to doctor first. Chiro doesn't require the education that docs and PTs go through. Remember, joints don't go out of alignment easily unless it happens as an infant, and then you're often looking at traumatic accidents or abuse. Have you ever popped a tendon or ligament? Badly sprained an ankle and NOT had it go back into place?
I've taught A&P and think of images I've seen of scoleosis, or bad curvatures of the spine. All the joints are still locked, severe muscle and tendon disfunction's have pulled the spine into curvatures.
I have a dear friend who's a chiro. He's a fine, kind man who loves to do good. I get my massages at a chiro center. The posters on the walls in the bathroom make me gag with their pap and smarminess. Naproxin, gentle movement, and lots of sit-ups are your best friends for back pain.

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Re: Chiropractor, physiotherapy, doctor or other?

Postby Tabby » Sat Mar 25, 2017 1:22 pm

I have a herniated disc in my lower back. From what I've read about it, many people have these with no symptoms at all. About a month ago, I went to a trampoline park and felt a "twinge" while I was jumping. I was stiff and sore all over for 2 or 3 days, with particularly sharp pain in my lower back just left of my spine and radiating down my leg. It eased up and I thought whatever I did must be healing. Then a week later for no apparent reason, it flared up again. I spent a weekend off my feet taking robaxacet in the hopes that if I give it a proper chance to heal, it will (I did this once before when I hurt my back years ago and it worked). It seemed a little better after this but then a week after that it flared up again. By this time I realized that I wasn't dealing with a simple injury. I've got an appointment with my doc but not for another 2 weeks since she only works late one night a week and those appointments fill up well in advance. For all of my previous injuries, she has sent me to physio. I could go straight to physio on my own but they physiotherapist I've used in the past moved across the city and is quite far away now. There are others closer to me but I don't know anyone who has used them so I'd be just hoping they were ok. My DH has used this chiropractor for years so that's why I went there first.

The way I see it is doctors prescribe drugs or do surgery. Physiotherapist stretch out tendons and strengthen muscles and chiropractors straighten out joints. I would think these things would complement each other, depending on the actual injury of course. I would feel better if the 3 types would present a more united front on treatment although I also know that even doctors don't agree with each other on many things - which is why we often need a second opinion.

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Re: Chiropractor, physiotherapy, doctor or other?

Postby Canyon » Sat Mar 25, 2017 3:00 pm

I would ask your old physiotherapist for a recommendation of someone closer. My daughter is a PT; in the US at least, they seem to have a "grapevine" and should know who would be able to approach your treatment as they had.

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chantal
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Re: Chiropractor, physiotherapy, doctor or other?

Postby chantal » Sat Mar 25, 2017 5:43 pm

I think there may be good chiros who are more PT-like. But that being said, I would go to a PT. And there are good PTs and not good PTs. But as a patient, you also have to do your part. We have a friend who is an excellent PT and wonders why people waste so much time and money going simply to doctors to get a diagnosis and meds when they should be going to PTs immediately to get real help. But again, he is head and shoulders above may PTs. He ran his own business, just sold it.

Tabby
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Re: Chiropractor, physiotherapy, doctor or other?

Postby Tabby » Sat Mar 25, 2017 8:37 pm

My old PT was actually in my doctor's office when I first went and it was great. The first thing I went for was my hip. Doc sent me for x-rays and told me to start PT right away, which I did since I could make the appointment while I was still there. I saw my doctor a couple of days after the x-ray while I was at my PT appointment and she gave me the results right there and they confirmed what the PT had said. Unfortunately, they both moved. I still see the same doctor but PT (and chiro) are things you go to several times a week - not just once in a while when you are sick. I can talk to both of them when I see my doctor.

As for the chiro, I've had an assessment and one treatment and my back seems ok this weekend. Since it has been on and off since it started, I'm not crediting anybody anything. However, his secretary did give me a "doctor's note" for my husband listing all the household chores I can't do (all of them :) ). She did it because she knows him well since he's a long time patient at the office but it's pretty funny - on company letterhead and everything. As I type this, DH is folding laundry and getting his next load ready :)! For that alone the chiro has been worth it.

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Re: Chiropractor, physiotherapy, doctor or other?

Postby Tsavo » Sat Mar 25, 2017 9:57 pm

Tabby that is so funny about the note!

I have had two herniated discs (decades apart) and can tell you what I did but I don't claim my situation is necessarily the same as your. Both were sports injuries but I can't say that heredity didn't play a role in susceptibility because I have read these issues can be somewhat genetically based.

The first time I went to an MD and was given a script for chiropractic,. I went but was skeptical. The guy also gave me some home PT which was basically core strengthening. He also admitted that my back would get better just over time and the PT and chiro would hopefully hasten that. I think he was honest which is not the case with other chiropractors I can point to. I got better and had no issue for two decades.

The second time I herniated a disc, I remembered what the chiropractor said about it getting better just resting it. So I stopped all activity for 3 months and did no PT or anything. It got better and I have no issues.

If I herniate another disc I will just rest it again.

Time is the greatest most effective healer of herniated discs in my opinion.

The basis of chiropractic is vertebral alignment but this is not a robust finding and has been debunked. So chiropractic is not scientific.

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Re: Chiropractor, physiotherapy, doctor or other?

Postby Wicky » Mon Mar 27, 2017 3:12 pm

The basis of chiropractic is adjusting the spine, and work with dead bodies has shown that one cannot make the kinds of adjustments claimed without applying MUCH more force than a human can generate. That is not to say that some changes in proprioception cannot be achieved, resulting in benefit, just that the reasoning is faulty. And YES, paralysis or death can occur if force is applied to necks. Indeed, when I did not know that I had an unstable neck, I could have been killed by a chiropractic manipulation. My doctor put me immediately in a rigid neck collar and I was not permitted to ride or drive. Do chiropractors do full neurologic assessments? Do they listen to the neck arteries to make sure that there isn't any compromise in the carotid artery that would result in a stroke with neck manipulation?

I had a patient who was partially paralyzed by a chiropractor.

Go or not, just do NOT let them touch your neck!

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Re: Chiropractor, physiotherapy, doctor or other?

Postby Quelah » Mon Mar 27, 2017 5:57 pm

I rarely go to Dr but I would say doctor / chiro equally. I have a wonderful and careful chiro. I don't go often but DH does. He'd be a mess if not for our chiro. It will be a cold day in hell before I work with a PT. That was the biggest mistake I made after I broke my back and the occasional back pain I have now (11 years later) is not from the fracture but from the PT. Where it hurts now didn't hurt until PT.


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