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Off-Topic Has anyone been helped by chiropractic care?

pedevowi

Level 1 Valued Member
I've recently started seeing a chiropractor for poor posture and occasional back/ neck pain.

I knew I had Scoliosis but after getting x-rays it turns out I have a 30-degree curve in my spine and it looks pretty bad.

My neck is out of alignment as well and my shoulders and hips are uneven.

I'm wondering if this is contributing to my symptoms and if it is possibly an indirect cause. How can the body function properly if it is so out of alignment?

Has anyone else felt better after seeing a chiropractor? It is pretty expensive so I'm hoping it at least helps a little. So far no changes but I've only had a few adjustments.
 
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Folks, let us please _not_ turn this into a referendum on the value of chiropractic care in general - that happens often when a question like this is asked. If you've had personal experiences, that's what being asked for here.

@pedevowi, welcome to the StrongFirst forum.

-S-
 
This is just my experience with 1 single chiropractor: I have found it to be useful depending on what's bothering you, but it will from be dependent on finding a quality chiropractor. In my experience, the Dr I've used/recommended to others and really felt like he knew what he was doing has said that I'm most cases any issue that he is going to help with should be taken care of within a few visits and some at home exercises. He's adamantly against practitioners that insist on a regiment of multiple visits a week indefinitely.
I have recommended this particular chiropractor to several people and everyone was happy with their results.
 
My brother in law has gotten some good relief using chiro, I did not. I suspect if you go to them with a good diagnosis of your issues you’ll have a better outcome.
I don’t have much faith in their ability to diagnose a problem, and their stock back-cracking protocols did nothing for me. The TENS unit is good for relieving spasms.
 
I've had scoliosis since a child.

It shows up pretty obviously on X-rays and DEXA scans.

I've competed in sports (and still do) since a teenager.

Yes, it creates imbalances that I deal with regularly in my training, but most people have imbalances for one reason for another. Very few are symmetrical.

I've never seen a chiropractor.
 
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pedevowi said:
Has anyone else felt better after seeing a chiropractor?
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I haven't been, but I have a number of friends and acquaintances who see their chiropractors regularly and do so because it helps them. A few a runners who don't lift weights - I don't know if there's a connection there.

-S-
 
I've used two over a long period of time. One in high school for back trouble after a sledding accident where I slammed into a tire on a parked car. My ribs were really bothering me at wrestling practice. Two sessions seemed to fix the problem. Later in my 20's and 30's more back problems and sciatica, one (edit: Osteopath), helped me quite a lot. When he retired I used another chiro, who primarily treated it with accupuncture(six sessions) and that alleviated the sciatica pretty well.
But I had better experiences with an osteopath (D.O.) who also made adjustments. On your question about feeling better after a treatment, it was a resounding Yes, to both chiro's and an osteopath. But I didn't have scoliosis like you. I've considered going recently for a neck problem, but recent bouts of vertigo the last few years makes me wary of getting that adjusted.
 
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I had 2 chiros. One would crack me & though it felt good, he needed me to come back weekly. The other would crack me if I were particularly locked up but mostly trained me to no longer need him. That was years ago now.
Is your movement bad bc your spine is out of whack or is your spine out of whack bc your movement is bad?
 
I had to shop around in Los Angeles for a chiropractor that was a good match for me. Had a few that weren't a good match .

So I kept looking for one. And when I found it, it was a very profitable relationship for both parties. I got a lot of relief and resolved some issues over a couple years.
 
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I’ve been helped by a chiropractor quite a bit… with the caveat that he had me doing a lot of physical therapy type stuff.

I don’t think the cracking helped me all that much. The mobility work and corrections of imbalances did.

There is a wide variety of skills and ethics in the field. Some good some bad. So just keep that in mind.

I put it in the same category as massage. Gives nice temporary relief, but isn’t going to fix long term issues unless you get the rare chiro who has some knowledge of physical therapy.

All that said, chiropractors can’t fix scoliosis. Some can help you move better around it.

Edit: should clarify that it was a shoulder issue and not scoliosis.
 
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I went to a chiropractor for years when I was younger but eventually decided it wasn’t working as a long term fix. I think my problems weren’t caused by something chiropractic could fix.
 
I have been helped in the past with chiropractic care. I think as with most things it just depends on the competency and the individual issue at hand. But short answer yes they have helped me.
 
Steve Freides said:
Folks, let us please _not_ turn this into a referendum on the value of chiropractic care in general - that happens often when a question like this is asked. If you've had personal experiences, that's what being asked for here.

@pedevowi, welcome to the StrongFirst forum.

-S-
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I think this is going to be inevitable, Steve...

I've gotten relief from chiropractic care, and I found one I trusted, HOWEVER, I could argue that over the weeks and months of treatment my back issues and pain might have remedied themselves on their own with NSAIDs, rest, rehab, things I do on my own, etc. And, I've had many visits with other chiropractors that did exactly zero for me.
 
I've seen three chiropractors.

The first said my chi was not flowing right because of something or another, and if I fixed that my chi would flow better and then I wouldn't have shoulder pain. (I didn't go back so I can't say if this would've helped.)

The second I saw after I dislocated my shoulder in an obstacle course race. He is pretty much the reason I didn't have surgery and helped me get full function back in the shoulder. This was a long and fairly expensive process (but cheaper than surgery!) and involved physical therapy, manual therapy, and other things like dry needling and gua sha (scraping). He didn't start doing back adjustments until long after the shoulder was better.

The third I saw shortly after I tore my hamstring and he said my problem with my low back and put me on this rack machine that was like ... a non-manual reverse hyper. After a couple visits I found out that EVERYONE he saw had this "problem" and got "the rack." I stopped after a little while as I didn't see any benefit.

I've moved around a lot, hence the 3 'practors. I would not hesitate to go back to #2 if I was in the area and had a problem. He was a very sports-minded doc (even working with Olympic athletes).
 
I had 1 visit to a chiropractor in Dickson TN. There is a phrase, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. 'Nuff said...
 
Steve Freides said:
Folks, let us please _not_ turn this into a referendum on the value of chiropractic care in general - that happens often when a question like this is asked. If you've had personal experiences, that's what being asked for here.
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Boris Bachmann said:
I think this is going to be inevitable, Steve...
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Nonetheless, I ask that we all try to be our better selves.

-S-
 
John K said:
I've seen three chiropractors.

The first said my chi was not flowing right because of something or another, and if I fixed that my chi would flow better and then I wouldn't have shoulder pain. (I didn't go back so I can't say if this would've helped.)
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The first two paragraphs sounded like the start of a joke.

Three chiropractors walk into a bar...
 
I have had active release therapy for when my elbow got really messed up from a couple arm bars, and while it was extremely painful to receive it did rapidly heal my elbow. I went to a chiropractor for it, but I don’t think it’s chiropractic specific as PTs also do it.
 
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