Listening To The Chiropractor?

Training Bodybuilding
1

Here is my story. Somehow my sacruum (tailbone) has been jammed up into my Lumbar5’s nerve endings. So basically my tailbone and L5 are stuck together. Now my chiropractor has been doing adjustments to fix this, these are: the “lower back crack” where I’m on one side and he pushes my upward facing hip down to twist/crack my lower spine. Feels good. The other one is to separate my tailbone from my L5, he puts a board under my back right above my tailbone, raises my knees, and pushes. Almost everytime clears away the pain, but just for a bit.

He told me not to do any back exercises yet, because my back has to heal and adjust. Soon he wants me to do “core” exercises (isometric holds in the pushup position). I’m thinking of going ahead and starting a deadlifting routine. I’ve been seeing this guy for over a month now and my tailbone still feels stuck. He says the bones are where they’re supposed to be, but something is wrong. So would lower back weight lifting be wise? I’m getting fed up with this pain.

2

If you’re unhappy with the professional advice you’re receiving… seek another professional opinion from someone who has actually assessed you.
I don’t feel that spinal injuries are something to mess around with by seeking advice on an internet forum.

3

Shoot a message over to Doc. Ryan. See what he has to say.

4

Definitley seek another opinion. Maybe check out one of Dr. McGill’s books at your library, or find a good Active-release provider in your area.

Good luck,

Oh, and I am no expert, but if you have problems with your spine, you may not want to start a deadlift program just yet.

Cheers

5

You should go to a real doctor. Chiropractors are mostly just quacks. I remember in high school when kids would go to them for injuries, they would just have them keep coming back every day for treatment, kind of like a money making scheme for them.

6

[quote]Playboy wrote:
You should go to a real doctor. Chiropractors are mostly just quacks. I remember in high school when kids would go to them for injuries, they would just have them keep coming back every day for treatment, kind of like a money making scheme for them.
[/quote]

It is true that many chiro’s can be quacks, and it is also true that they LOVE the repeat business. Some chiro’s however are excellent, but again you gotta pay, and find them.

I think you should see a real doctor and get it x-rayed and looked at by a specialist especially if it is causing pain.

I do not think you should start any exercise until you have seen a doctor.

If the chiro you were seeing is a quack, it is possible there is something seriously wrong that could become extreme-serious. Maybe the odds are low but do you want to end up with no legs?

If you go to a real doc and a specialist and they check you out and find nothing and can’t help, THEN go to a chiro - a good one - and be prepared to pay - it takes them awhile but they can actually get permanent results (but they won’t tell you to stop coming, they’ll want you there every month for life even once healed / fixed). It might take say 14 visits or so.

good luck

7

Thanks all. Today was my 15th visit (yeah, I know) and btw I’ve been paying for almost all of them, my mom paid twice. Asking to see a doctor would just annoy my parents again, it took me forever for me to pursuade them that I acutally had a back situation and not a “mommy, my back hurts” deal. But I’m worried this will become serious soon.

8

If you have injured your back you should listen to the chiropractor. One month is time very little time for this kind of injury to heal. I think you are being very impatient.

Deadlifting before you are fully healed could cost you a lifetime of chronic back problems. Patience really is a virtue with the injury you describe. I’ve had sciatica before it felt like someone was tearing the flesh off of the back of my leg whenever I sat, it was 3 months of hell. It was excrutiating.

You have said that his adjustments have been able to give relief. Probably because they are taking the pressure off of the nerve. What you have to wait for is swelling in the nerve to go down. That can take a while especially if the nerve keeps getting repinched. Deadlifting with a pinched nerve is asking for trouble.

What you could try is icing it to get the inflamation down. Also try some antiinflammatory like aspirin and/or Flameout.

If you don’t think a lower back injury is something to take seriously go talk to some elderly people. One of the reasons why a lot of elderly people end up wearing depends undergarments is inconsinance is a side effect of lumbar surgery.

By the way the tail bone is the last bit that looks like a tail attached to the bottom of the sacrum. The thing that damages that is falling on your ass.

9

[quote]Playboy wrote:
You should go to a real doctor. Chiropractors are mostly just quacks. I remember in high school when kids would go to them for injuries, they would just have them keep coming back every day for treatment, kind of like a money making scheme for them.
[/quote]

And whatever it is that you are going to school for (to geneticaly modify corn to fit more comfortably into ignorant farmboy rectums?) you will do for free right? Once the spine is out and surrounding muscles adapt to the irregularity, frequent adjustments are needed to prevent the muscle from exerting negative force and causing a misalignment again, this is done until things are normal,that is why the pain returns/goes away.For someone like you with spine problems,a couple years of progressive sronger pain meds and then spinal fusion would serve you right…douchebag!

10

Chiropractic is barely a medical profession at all. The practicioners know some medical terms, and that’s about as proficient as they get.

Want a good crack for your back? Just do a one-arm push-up, or lie down and cross your knee over your other leg.

Chiropractic is mostly a sales scheme designed to make people believe in a false concept called “spinal subluxation”. The chiropractors sell this concept and prople just keep coming back. They’re little more than massage artists.

Before the flames begin, go to: www.chirobase.org and read up. I speak from experience - these guys are not healers, they’re salesmen.

For back injuries, see a real medical specialist or physical therapist.

11

[quote]HOV wrote:
Chiropractic is barely a medical profession at all. The practicioners know some medical terms, and that’s about as proficient as they get.

Want a good crack for your back? Just do a one-arm push-up, or lie down and cross your knee over your other leg.

Chiropractic is mostly a sales scheme designed to make people believe in a false concept called “spinal subluxation”. The chiropractors sell this concept and prople just keep coming back. They’re little more than massage artists.

Before the flames begin, go to: www.chirobase.org and read up. I speak from experience - these guys are not healers, they’re salesmen.

For back injuries, see a real medical specialist or physical therapist.[/quote]

By a “real” medical specialist, you mean an M.D. right? For the most part, the drug rep… I mean “doctor” will treat your problem symptomatically, meaning that they will get some x rays on your back done, have you ice your back, and of course right you a prescription for some pain killers. If worse comes to worse and they don’t help the problem but mask it and your own condition worsens, then they may reccomend surgey. Now I am not saying all doctors are out there to push drugs (that was a bit of hyperbole, a bit), or that no doctor could help with back trouble, or that surgey is never a option. Rather that we do live in a crisis based society thriving on peoples notions/ignorance that “modern” medicine (see: drugs/surgery etc.) far trumps any and all alternative forms of healing, when that is just not the case. If you want some real world evidence of chiropractic care, look at how many top level athletes endorse it. There is probably a chiro on every single pro sports team. These people need one thing…RESULTS. They (the athletes) are not going to continue to do something of that nature if it is not helping their performance. Maybe they see even better results than most because the Chiro’s confer with the P.T.'s and rest of the medical staff, instead of bitching about who spent longer and who spent more money in school, thus who is more qualified? Hmm…

In Stuart McGill’s Lower Back Disorders book, he brings up a good point when discussing treatment, or lack thereof, for a bad back. His basic point is that if you go to a basic Chiro, than they will think adjusting you will fix the whole problem, if you go to a doctor, then they will think giving you a prescription (for example)will help you. A massage therapist will think that by breaking up the adhesions in your back you will be fine. A Physical Therapist will think that they will help by strengthing the surrounding muscles and by stretching. And so on and so on. The point of this is that each Professional had their own dicipline, and a holisitic approach may be required to help the patient.

Someone else called Chiro’s “quaks”. As in any profession there are some who are not as proficient in their work as others, and some who “ruin” the name for all. Is Mike Leahy, D.C. (one of the ones whom invented A.R.T.)a quak? Is Dr. Ryan Smith?

Concerning the point about having to go back to see the Chiropractor regularily, I do not see why this is a big deal if you beilieve in their effectiveness. Living an active lifestyle will warrant good care in order to keep you properly aligned, and can also help increase recovery. I wonder how many people who buy Grow! or Alpha Male, or anything else to get bigger/leaner/etc. stop taking everything once they have reached their goal, only to regress for a bit until they have to take more? That is what happens in this, again, crisis care society. People go to the D.C. get “fixed” dont do the follow-ups, then years later experience pain again and either A) dismiss Chiropractic care, or B) Go back to see them. Just because they (the D.C.) believes in its effectivness doesn’t mean they should do it for free. JB thinks drinking Surge in the Peri-Workout period (before, during, after) can dramatically enhance results. Maybe he should give us free Surge? Only makes sense right?

Basically, I wonder what your definition of Medical Profession is and what your experiences with a good chiropractor are that would cause you to make such a gross generalization or to dismiss the field completley?

Take Care,

12

NOT ALL chiros are quacks.

NOT ALL general medical practitioners are excellent.

Chiro as a field has its place, and is damned good, if you get someone good and can afford it. They do get real, measureable results and can be masters of realignment. As shown in xrays, as shown in removal of pain + other symptoms. I’d like to see them move into mainstream and have more stringent tests. If they screw up, they can screw up royally. And I’d imagine the combination of many expensive sessions + some quacky ones out there gives the field a bad reputation. It is an important part of medicine. I’ve seen many patients get good results and I personally have had great results.

HOWEVER if this poster is not getting great results then either they need a new chiro or to see a neurologist to check things out. First. Which should be compulsory before (and maybe after) seeing a chiro.

Although it might just be taking awhile.

But beware, they do like you to come back forever. And perhaps they are in no hurry to fix you completely.

13

Sorry to hear about your back problems. How old are you? When I was 17 I messed up my back, leading to my first experience with the Chiropractor. It was good initially, but after a while I came to find that traditional chiropractors seem to be good for short-term relief.

I have been to 6 different chiropractors, and only one of them was good. Do what your pain level and body allows you to do. I got over my pain eventually with acupuncture.

If you can, find a D.O., a real doctor who can do manipulation as well (safer manipulation in my opinion.)

14

[quote]HOV wrote:
Chiropractic is barely a medical profession at all. The practicioners know some medical terms, and that’s about as proficient as they get.

Want a good crack for your back? Just do a one-arm push-up, or lie down and cross your knee over your other leg.

Chiropractic is mostly a sales scheme designed to make people believe in a false concept called “spinal subluxation”. The chiropractors sell this concept and prople just keep coming back. They’re little more than massage artists.

Before the flames begin, go to: www.chirobase.org and read up. I speak from experience - these guys are not healers, they’re salesmen.

For back injuries, see a real medical specialist or physical therapist.[/quote]

This is a real “educated” assessment of chiropractic. To back up your statements, you encourage us to check out a propaganda site and cite your own “experience” (on which you neglected to elaborate). Do you know there are also websites that have “proof” of alien abductions or that the Holocaust didn’t occur? And yes, I did peruse the site. Granted it is a well-put-together source of information, but from what I saw, it provides a one-sided argument against chiropractic, with expert witness testimonies, U.S. government agency opinions (from many years ago), etc.

I have a different experience of chiropractic than you do. I have experienced the D.C.s that try to oversell their services. But I have also seen some that don’t push it at all. Some have been well-versed with medical terms and conditions, while others have not (I have seen M.D.s that fit this category as well). But I can honestly say that the couple of times I stopped going to the chiro for extended periods, my overall health declined (particularly my lower back and neck) and when I started going again, things improved markedly.

And if spinal manipulations were just bs, why would DOs use it? FYI, DOs are licensed doctors who can perform surgeries and prescribe medications, just like MDs.

It drives me crazy when people make blanket statements like HOV did and present it as fact. Open your eyes a little wider and think with your whole brain a little bit more. You will be better off for it.

DB

15

[quote]HOV wrote:
Before the flames begin, go to: www.chirobase.org and read up. I speak from experience - these guys are not healers, they’re salesmen.[/quote]

This page:

is a good discussion of the various studies on the benefits of spinal manipulation. It seems that there is some benefit, which was surprising to me. I had assumed it was useless nonsense. It seems instead to be marginally useful nonsense. The “science” of it, subluxations and so forth, is obviously bunk, but I guess knocking the bones around can do some good. If you can find a PT who also does some spinal manipulation, that may be a better choice.

16

DC’s and DO’s aren’t fakes or quacks. Some of them might be, just like a MD can screw up badly and end up injuring someone, but they’re competent health practionners, and science DO back up their pratices. Not some of it, but most. Saying the contrary requires more than an armchair expert’s advice, randomly picked on the net, especially when a better opinion can be achieved with a bit of readin’ from good ol’ pubmed:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Display&dopt=pubmed_pubmed&from_uid=12021744

And to tell the truth, science is important, but no as much as getting results. Has anyone waited for a research being done on squats before doing them?

18

I’m starting to doubt paying 60 dollar each time I go there…Anyway, I was doing weightless deadlift/good morning type movements and those core exercises. My back actually feels better this morning. But I think only because all the surrounding muscles are “tight” so they’re holding everything in place. Does that make sense?

19

chiropractors get such a bad rap, but you know what, i’ve never had a bad experience with a DC. On the other hand, i’ve had numerous bad experiences with MD’s. i don’t know why it is, but almost every MD i’ve known is super-arrogant and they think they know everything. it’s kind of funny, because they seem to just hide their heads in the sand when it’s obvious that their treatments (medicine and surgery) are not always the best answer.

i recommend going to an orthopedist just to make sure you don’t have some problem that will be aggravated by chiro manipulation. if he says proceed, then go to the DC. if he says surgery or drugs are the only answer without giving an intelligent reason why, leave him and get a second opinion.

if you do have some serious problem (cracked verterbra, disc problems, etc.) then let him do his “magic.” be warned, surgery and meds for the back rarely, if ever, actually helps the problem, and usually makes it worse. check around: it’s the worst kept secret in medicine.

20

MDs are generally extremely poor at treating mechanical problems, and I would be surprised if the original poster gained any relief from one.

There are some DCs who are good at what they do but I agree with Stephen Barrett’s assertion that many of them practice unethically. I do not trust them.