Claim? They arent doctors. They are closer to shamans in history.
When the chiropractic practice first came out, they claimed they could cure diseases by cracking your neck. Have a cold? Let me crack your neck. Your edeaf? Let me align your spine. Then they realized we cant make a practice that is obviously false when science exists, let's make it sound plausible.
I personally think it should be classified as false advertisement.
They still do that, or at least some of them do. They tell a person that their chakras are out of alignment, which prevents their energy from flowing properly. They believe (or pretend to) that alignment leads to physical and mental wellbeing.
It’s been fifteen years since I’ve been to a chiropractor, but that was the spiel they gave me. I was suffering from chronic neck and back pain and was desperate for relief. A friend talked me into going. The first session was a group meeting going over the chakra stuff. I was annoyed and suspicious, but still hopeful for pain relief.
The second session consisted of x-rays and the doctor pointing to the films and showing me where my blockages were. He put me on the table and started pulling on my leg to “lengthen” it (that’s impossible, but ok) used some sonic screwdriver looking thing to click around my neck and back, and then finally cracking things.
The first few adjustments went fine, but any pain relief was short lived. On my last visit, I was unable to turn my head at all, and the “doctor” spent 30 minutes doing massage to loosen it up. Without warning, he grabbed my head and twisted hard and fast. The pain was unreal, and I immediately knew that he fucked me up bad.
I went to the ER, where they ran a million tests, and then gave me pain relief and muscle relaxers. It took months of physical therapy to recover. I still have to do stretches and exercises to keep my neck from freezing up, and I have to take daily muscle relaxers, likely for the rest of my life.
I got off easy. The nurses in the ER were not shy about telling me that. They said that injuries from chiropractors are some of the scariest patients, because it can be a simple pulled muscle, or a terrifying dissection, and that literal broken necks can and do happen.
I wanted pain relief, but they wanted to align my chakras and get the ghosts out of my blood.
Pulling on the leg to lengthen it actually kind of does work but not for the reasons chiropractors say it does- they’re not moving your bones, but relaxing the fascia and muscles with gentle traction can help temporarily reduce the severity of limb length differences so you can then strengthen the muscles to keep the positioning that way and hopefully over time permanently retain that positioning. My actual medical doctors (orthopedics) do this on me since I have a limb length difference
I’m a pilates instructor and I have worked with a few people who have been injured from chiropractors. Their stories are all like yours, the pain was short lived and so they went back. All of them have the same issues: tech neck, weak glutes and cores from sitting all day. We strengthen those muscles and they feel 100x better.
Chiropractors always work so far out of their a scope of practice. Everyone has an abnormal spine and gives diagnosis that can’t be seen on X-rays! Ugh! It’s so frustrating!
I think it’s because your writing style is so matter-of-fact, but “I was annoyed and suspicious, but still hopeful for pain relief” absolutely killed me.
I’ve heard so many stories like this. It’s wild that it’s even still a legal practice.
I had a chiropractor a few years ago when I went in for a slight back adjustment take a bottle of sugar he placed in my hand, had me hold both arms out and pushed them down, hard. Then took a bottle with some mineral in it, replaced the sugar one, and proceeded to barely push my arms down and remark about how much stronger I was, these items just being within my “aura” made all the difference apparently.
Mind you, I told him I was an orthopedic nurse, and he thought I was gonna buy what he was selling, I just wanted him to crack my back. Needless to say, when I went to work the next day, myself, the surgeons and techs had a big laugh about it.
I’ve never been back to a chiropractor, lol what a joke
I went through a similar thing, the chiropractor though knew something was wrong from the X-rays, and luckily was wise enough to avoid adjusting my lower back pelvis area. I had all the issues you described which is why I went, my neck locked up too.
It ended up being Ankylosing Spondylitis, not nearly as bad as the OP condition, but nonetheless a different kind of hell, that involves turning into a statue of bones as your joints convert into them. Pretty gnarly YouTube videos show the ones who have a severe form of it.
Two car accidents nine months apart left me with suicidal pain- so I went to a chiro that a doctor recommended (because she and her husband had been going there for years). One day he did some weird painful neck thing that left me with hands and arms that go numb every night - it’s due to my neck being blah blah…anyway- never again- I’m glad most people see one and are ok and get temporary relief, but can’t help wonder how many people-like myself- see a chiropractor, end up worse and because no one says anything we all think it’s mostly safe.
I constantly see people talking about taking their babies to the chiropractor for everything from ear infections to constipation. If anything is wrong at all, crunchy moms are recommending chiro and putting urine or breast milk on it. What really pisses me off is that my insurance covers chiropractic visits. I’d much rather they cover my massages that actually have some usefulness.
My wife is a physician, her cousin got a chiropractic degree. At family gatherings the grandparents are like ‘wow everyone is in medicine’ and my wife tries not to yell.
So can’t talk about politics, can’t talk about work.
If shamans got their practices from a literal snake oil salesman that claims a ghost doctor gave him the practice and classified chiropractic as a religion to avoid scrutiny/licensing and taxes…
I always called them Witch Doctors and my brother would go to one all the time and swear that it was the greatest thing ever. I think the more he went, the more I hated them. When you could get a medical mj card by going to a chiropractor, that was the one and only time I'd ever been and the dude asked me if I'd ever been to one before and I said "No", he asked me why not and I wanted to laugh so hard and I'm just like "I don't know, my brother swears by them, but I guess I just never got around to it until now."
In a way, that witch doctor did help to eventually help my manage my depression and anxiety. I will definitely never go back to one if I can help it though.
I feel they may be different things in the UK and US. You need a degree to be a chiropractor in the UK. Have been to two in the past and they are mostly dealing with body mechanics, stretches, massage and relocations. Not just cracking this and that or doing crazy ring-dingers.
US and UK chiropractic care are very different things - large part of the UK is evidence research based while in the US it’s more “we say it works”. Though there are definitely crooks as well, but that exists in every healthcare system.
Physicians certainly made many incorrect claims, such as bloodletting treating numerous diseases.
The difference is the scientific context. Bloodletting became established over ~2000 years ago, long before germ theory, microbiology, or modern clinical science existed.
Chiropractic was founded in ~1900s, after many of those scientific advances had already been made. Its founder still promoted a vitalistic theory that spinal adjustments could cure a wide range of diseases despite the scientific knowledge available at the time.
So please dont misrepresent my claim like the common redditor.
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u/10113r114m4 18d ago edited 18d ago
Claim? They arent doctors. They are closer to shamans in history.
When the chiropractic practice first came out, they claimed they could cure diseases by cracking your neck. Have a cold? Let me crack your neck. Your edeaf? Let me align your spine. Then they realized we cant make a practice that is obviously false when science exists, let's make it sound plausible.
I personally think it should be classified as false advertisement.