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Chiropractors are bullshit

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Re: Chiropractors are bullshit

#31

Post by DougN7 »

comstock wrote: post #21

This article is pretty long, a lot of it is interesting, but quite a lot is redundant. All I would really want to see is a summary of a study showing that chiropractors don't reduce pain. But if even a like to such a study is there, I didn't see it.

My chiropractor never reduced my pain, but he did point out what was wrong with my posture, which I corrected myself, and am now pain free. So I'm grateful for that and don't feel bad about the money spent on treatments. Having said that, a buddy is a chiropractor and the BS he believes...

Re: Chiropractors are bullshit

#32

Post by dnh44 »

E6300 wrote: post #18
kenbaylor wrote: post #11

Totally not bullshit. Hospitals alone kill close to 100,000 Americans alone each year. https://www.propublica.org/article/how-many-die-from-medical... Chiropractors are good: 1) Personal experience. They have helped my spine recover multiple times, in record recovery time. 2) Modern medicine consists of prescribing drugs, or high risk surgeries. Paralysis for life is a real risk. 3) If you get a great one, they will…

> Hospitals alone kill close to 100,000 Americans alone each year. > 2) Modern medicine consists of prescribing drugs, or high risk surgeries. Paralysis for life is a real risk. This is reminiscent of the arguments used by creationists. "Creationism isn't bullshit! Look at all the flaws in evolution!" > 1) Personal experience. There's people who use homeopathy who swear by it. That doesn't make homeopathy any more le…

No but placebo is real and what's wrong with people trying to induce placebo to help themselves?

Re: Chiropractors are bullshit

#33

Post by [deleted] »

kenbaylor wrote: post #11

Totally not bullshit. Hospitals alone kill close to 100,000 Americans alone each year. https://www.propublica.org/article/how-many-die-from-medical... Chiropractors are good: 1) Personal experience. They have helped my spine recover multiple times, in record recovery time. 2) Modern medicine consists of prescribing drugs, or high risk surgeries. Paralysis for life is a real risk. 3) If you get a great one, they will…

[deleted]

Re: Chiropractors are bullshit

#34

Post by pfarnsworth »

dnh44 wrote: post #29
pfarnsworth wrote: post #5

No it is not bullshit, not for back problems. I hurt my back and was suffering for 2 years. I went to a physiotherapist and they made me do stretches and other exercises. I took Advil and aleve and both eventually stopped working. It was debilitating and I desperation I went to a chiropractor. I am a huge skeptic and thought chiropractors were scams too but I was desperate. Within 6 weeks the pain disappeared permane…

I had a problem with my shoulder, for which doctors recommended surgery. Decided to try a chiropractor and the problem went away permanently after a few sessions.

According to hacker news, unfortunately you are misinformed anti-science idiot, and your anecdote doesn't count. Prepare to be downvoted by armchair experts.

Re: Chiropractors are bullshit

#35

Post by na85 »

pfarnsworth wrote: post #15
obstinate wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know that thing about anecdotes. There are a lot of explanations for your situation getting better concurrently with chiro, but not because of chiro. For example, regression to the mean, placebo effect, etc. That said, I had been under the impression that chiro is about as effective for lower back pain as evidence-based physical therapy. But that doesn't mean it is effective. It could equally well mean that we do…

When you hurt your back then come back and respond. There's nothing worse than an armchair expert googling Wikipedia for their "knowledge".

Studies show that back pain resolves on its own in 95% of cases.

Re: Chiropractors are bullshit

#36

Post by tonyarkles »

enraged_camel wrote: post #30
abatilo wrote: post #9

This generalization is insane. I don't go to chiropractors regularly, and my situation was clearly be anecdotal, but there was one afternoon where any movement in my back caused me extreme pain. I scheduled a body massage to try to alleviate at least some of the pain but when I went it didn't help. Then my fiance suggested trying a chiropractor and I walked in, explained my pain, and in about 30 seconds it was all go…

You should read up on the placebo effect. edit: Just to clarify, there is no scientific evidence that chiro is effective as anything other than placebo. All evidence provided is anecdotal and hence useless.

Could very well have been a pinched nerve or super tight muscle that needed to be tweaked a certain way to release. I've been there, although didn't see a chiropractor to fix it.

I say this as a long time skeptic of chiropractic; my dad, in fact, had a terrible moment in his youth where he had lower body paralysis for 2 days after a chirp visit... My partner has ahhh unusual wrist physiology and when we moved to a new city (near where she grew up), she wanted to go visit her old chiropractor to get her wrist looked at (the same guy had looked at it 30 years ago). I bit my tongue and didn't say anything. His advice: you need to get X-rays and I'll schedule you to see a (mainstream MD) specialist.

I'm still skeptical, but it gives me a little faith that in spite of whatever quackery exists, some of them do at least recognize problems that are the domain of conventional medicine.

Re: Chiropractors are bullshit

#37

Post by BooneJS »

Sample size 1 observations:

I've been going to chiropractors off and on for a few years. I started with a lower back injury, saw my primary care physician, went to PT, and after a few visits she recommended seeing a chiropractor. It took a while before I found a chiropractor I was comfortable with. Most over-promised and had a ton of halo-effect services they constantly pushed. I found one that also offered massage and didn't try to upsell any of their other services and I found that combination worked for me.

After I moved, I stopped the massage part. I stopped the chiropractor part. But the back pain hit me again in a big way. I've found that in times of high stress like I experienced several weeks ago an adjustment lasts for 1-2 days tops before it returns. My current guess based on this slightly-sensational article is that the massages help prevent muscles from messing with the entire system, so that's something I'll need to try.

Re: Chiropractors are bullshit

#38

Post by CuriouslyC »

Geimfari wrote: post #3
bluedino wrote: post #2

Are the okay to go to for back problems?

It is not recommended. It is recommended to visit a physical therapist, who will treat you using research-based methods.

I just want to chime in here that physical therapy research is usually not very good. Thus that "backed by science" guarantee isn't so strong.

The truth is, when it comes to myofascial pain, nobody really understands what is going on. Empirical techniques (such as ART and Graston) can get results superior to those achieved by standard physical therapy.

Re: Chiropractors are bullshit

#39

Post by na85 »

kenbaylor wrote: post #11

Totally not bullshit. Hospitals alone kill close to 100,000 Americans alone each year. https://www.propublica.org/article/how-many-die-from-medical... Chiropractors are good: 1) Personal experience. They have helped my spine recover multiple times, in record recovery time. 2) Modern medicine consists of prescribing drugs, or high risk surgeries. Paralysis for life is a real risk. 3) If you get a great one, they will…

>Hospitals alone kill close to 100,000 Americans alone each year.

Oh please. In any tech related topic there'd be a hundred people telling you that perfect is the enemy of the good.

Why does this site that prides itself on logical and level-headed discussion always go full-whacko when it comes to healthcare?

Re: Chiropractors are bullshit

#40

Post by aisofteng »

BooneJS wrote: post #37

Sample size 1 observations: I've been going to chiropractors off and on for a few years. I started with a lower back injury, saw my primary care physician, went to PT, and after a few visits she recommended seeing a chiropractor. It took a while before I found a chiropractor I was comfortable with. Most over-promised and had a ton of halo-effect services they constantly pushed. I found one that also offered massage a…

Deadlifting and squatting regularly has eliminated my lower back pain.
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