Anyone here seen a chiropractor?

[aihfl]

I was at an outdoor street festival where an enterprising chiropractor had set up her booth, and for twenty bucks ($120 value! yeah right) I figured what the hell and went to her office to be evaluated (which included x-rays). She pointed out that my atlas bone (topmost vertebra) is out of line both horizontally and vertically, and my neck is misaligned with the base of my skull. I don't have chronic pain issues, I've never seen a chiropractor and the only reason I bit was for the novelty. She says that realigning my neck with my skull and realigning my atlas bone (where apparently the brain stem is housed) will help alleviate both physical and psychiatric disorders including blood pressure, ADD, depression and GAD.

Two things worry me about this. One, I've read that seeing a chiropractor may help with chronic pain, but the evidence it can alleviate other disorders is scanty at best. And the second (the really worrisome one), is that manipulation of the neck can result in stretching the vertebral artery. Brain hemorrhage time!

I'd have to commit to a years worth of treatments at $147 US/month. It would come out to around $32 per session total, which is reasonable. And I don't think all homeopathic therapies are quackery - I benefited from acupuncture. But I'd like to think I'm healthily skeptical about this and would appreciate feedback from people who have actually seen a chiropractor.

 

[pharmacybandit]

I see a chiro occasionally (should more often but don't) and it really helps me, but that's mostly physical pain. I do believe there is something to be said for having your body in alignment and it making you feel better overall, but I don't think it will make a remarkable difference mentally. If I'm less anxious after an adjustment, it's mostly because I know when I sit down it's not going to feel like my tailbone is a dagger through my butt lol

 

[Foreigner]

She sounds like she's more concerned about making money than helping people. I would not commit to a year long package in case she can't help you. I've seen many chiropractors over the course of my lifetime and most of them could only temporarily help me, or they were downright crappy. The one I go to now has permanently fixed my alignment, such that I rarely have to see him anymore (maybe once every few months).

I've seen previous chiros who do those package deals, where you commit to a long-term plan or pay a lot up front in order to get discounts. It's a strategy that a lot of new DCs use because their student loan debt is enormous, and their practice startups are costly. The first chiro I ever saw got me to do a package deal. I saw him for 20 treatments. Each time I saw him, I felt better for 2-3 days, then my misalignments returned. After 20 treatments I stopped going and felt almost exactly the same as when I started.

If you are seeing a good chiro, you should be able to get a lot of function restored and pain reduced in a permanent way. If you're seeing a crappy chiro, or you have a permanent health condition that will need maintenance forever, then you never see permanent improvement. Bear in mind that you must also do the work... like exercising, strengthening, and stretching. If you're doing all the right lifestyle stuff and the DC isn't working that well, then IMO they aren't a good DC.

No chiro appointment is over $100 per session, so her stated value is a marketing lie. The most I ever paid for the initial session was $80, and the most I've paid for follow ups is $40. (That's Canadian dollars.) If you're in an area where DCs are rare, then they may charge more because they can get away with it.

My advice to you is that if you're interested in this practitioner, you should pay session by session, and wait to see the results of her work. It's true that chiropractic care is longer term and takes a while to see results, but you should still get benefit within the first 5 session if she knows what she's doing.

 

[starting_over]

Call it enterprising, but I think mobile booths really bring down the legitimacy of the chiropractic practice as a whole. This doesn't do them any favours when many people are still skeptical about treatment outcomes.

 

[aihfl]

Thank you all for the candid responses. Gives me something to chew on.