I made my first chiropractic visit ever yesterday for back pain. As you know, I think I sneezed my way into back pain the other day. Workouts have been put on hold. The ibuprofen and Tylenol just weren't cutting it. I got a referral to this guy on good word of mouth (just like most people find their health care providers).
He was a straight forward kind of guy. He knew I was a doc. He asked me if I knew what he did. I said I don't have any clue what their training is like but that I knew they did spinal manipulation. He pulled out this really cool spine model and started describing spinal manipulation for chiropractic back pain manipulation.
He asked me what I do with patients in the ED with back pain. I said most of them have to make it past the narcotic seeking radar of the ED doc before I get involved, and then most of the time it's a little old lady who can't move so they have to get admitted anyway or they'll lay in a pool of poop at their house.
He said he thought my pain was from an L5-S1 disk. He made me bend left, right, twist, turn. I yelled ouch when it hurt.
Then he hooked me up to an electric stimulation device for about 10 minutes. Then I lay in the chiropractic chair. He told me to lay on my side, flip my arm around like a pretzel, take my knee to my chest and then he applied all 220 pounds of his weight on my pelvis and pushed and pushed and pushed until he "felt something pop". I didnt' feel it, but he did. Then we did the same thing on the other side.
Then I stood up in amazement and felt a heck of a lot better. I could barely stand straight and walk when I went in. I was bending much better when I left. I wasn't pain free, but it was a remarkable improvement. No xrays. No magic potion. Just a little electricity and some elbow grease. He was an honest kind of guy. No chiropractic marketing at trade shows. I go back Monday for follow up.
I like this guy. He done me good. What ever he did, it seemed to work. Go here to see my primary care vs chiropractor follow up payment analysis.
Yup. Chiropracty (sp?) works. We need to stop harassing them just because they use "Dr."
ReplyDeleteSeeing them for back pain is one thing... when they try to cure diabetes with spinal manipulation... that's another.
ReplyDeleteThere are good chrio's out there -- and if they stick to things that make sense, they can help people.
Yes, they can help a lot. Just don't let them pop your neck--that can be dangerous/cause strokes or headaches, esp. with overadjustment. A lot can do more gentle muscle work that can put things back in place.
ReplyDeleteThe tens unit has a placebo effect according to some research but if it makes them feel better I let them do their hokey stuff so long as I get adjustments/muscle work for the back pain.
And yeah, word of mouth referral is good. I wouldn't go to most chiropractors but some I will. Their techniques can be completely different.
Sounds like he adjusted your SI joint back into place. L5-S1 pain is what I have, though the bigger problem is the whole SI joint gets arthritic/immobile too (it needs a small amount of movement for walking). Look into a sacrowedgy and google for stretches for the piriformis muscle--it contributes to pain in this range.
Hope it all feels better soon.
A good chiropractor is well worth the money. Mine is concerned about my migraines since my back is fine where most migraine patients have problems, so he sent me back to my neurologist. I appreciate that he didn't go out of his scope of practice.
ReplyDeleteHappy, you need to come check out a DO. We do the manipulation stuff and get a medical education.
ReplyDeleteLet me review that....what code did he bill?
ReplyDeleteIts good to know that you have recovered partially from your pain.
ReplyDeleteSpinal Manipulation??? Traumatologist does that too... the bad thing is that pain is most likely to come back, spinal manipulation is a tempory measure get rest H.
You remember lasegue maniover, inversed lassegue, or bagrad? those are maniover to locate the lesson, in spinal cord.
so you dont actually need an MRI to locate it.
I would like to know what medication you are taking that pain have last at least a week, i think....
So did he call you the morning after....???
ReplyDelete