Chiropractor? Good/Bad?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Injuries and Rehab
1

Just curious as to what a general census is for using a chiro. I recently went to see a chiro (last week). He took x-rays of my whole, spine head to tail. Not being an medical expert of any sort I still recognized where I was misaligned.

A little back ground on me.
'03 Hurt my right shoulder while doing Military behind my head. No insurance at the time so not sure exactly what I did. Resulted in sharp pain while doing incline bench. I can do it with light weight (135-185 lbs) but nothing heavy and that has lead to not being able to do shoulder press the past 6 months.

I have had 5-6 cortizone shots in my shoulder to “help”. Lost a lot of power in my shoulder. Basically while doing any Shoulder pressing it felt like someone unplugged the power cord half way through a rep.

'08 ruptured L5/S1; herniated L4/L5 (rack pulls). Did physical therapy for 3 months no help overall, just taught me how to manage the pain. Had surgery in Jan '09 (Diskectomy). Felt great after that. Rehabbed all of '09 and started back to regular lifting in '10, but still never felt strong. I know I lost a lot through atrophy, but never felt the same.

I decided I need to try something different with my approach to “medical” help. I found a Chiro the area that had sports/lifting back ground. Ie…he played football and did BB and power-lifting. I felt amazing after the first adjustment. I was in my recovery week of lifting so nothing heavy the first week.

Mainly heavy dessert lifting at Thanksgiving. I squated this past Mon (11/28) I was able to get lower than I have in a long time. Normally it takes a few warm-up reps to get to 90 for me. My first rep was at 90 and I felt great. All of my sets felt easier and I felt like I had power out of the hole.

Just wondering if anyone has had similar results? Or if you had this results but digressed back? I love the “new” feeling and want to keep it that way.
I’m following Wendlers 531 right now. Just doing 3 day split and eliminating shoulders. I may be adding a 4th day in here soon as I feel ready to try my shoulder again.

2

Im a little biased because my father is a chiropractor, but the are the best for rehab. My dad works with professional sports teams and other individual athletes as well as regular people. I actually tore my rotator cuff during my junior year of high school and he rehabbed me back to almost normal in 4 months, 2 months earlier than projected.

Just this past summer i tweaked my back deadlifting and couldnt move from the couch for 2 weeks. Yep, my dad helped me out there two.

Lots of people dont like them because they are “medical” doctors and there are a lot of politics involved in the health care business. The trick is to find a good chiropractor, and one that not a quack. Look for one that specializes in ART (active release therapy) and you will not regret it.

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i find them to be hit or miss, but then I find the same problem with regular Dr.s