My Back Hurts

Many people have visited Chiropractors for back problems, and I have heard various comments about them. Some people regard them as crooks, some as the next best thing since sliced bread! I think both opinions are true, but that largely depends on who you visit for your treatment. There is good and bad in all.

Chiropractors specialise in diagnosis and treatment of problems with joints, ligaments, tendons and nerves of the body, in particular the spine. From my experience with Chiropractors over the last 15 years, these guys will first diagnose your back problem with an x-ray, then will use various movements and palpation techniques (not all Chiropractors are skilled in this) which involves feeling the spine with the fingers and identifying misaligned vertebrae and muscle tension. Its amazing what a skilled Chiropractor can identify with this technique, they can usually find the problems without you telling them anything!

I get various problems with my back, from stiffness, pain, soreness, restricted movement etc etc. These sometimes develop other symptoms such as headaches, light headedness and tingling in the arms. When I visit my Chiropractor, he assesses the back, and has the knack to pin-point the problem, loosens the muscles up, and adjusts the vertebrae (i.e. gives it a crack!). Its amazing, the symptoms almost immediately disappear.

The problem I have though, the symptoms reappear after a day or so, and you end up in the endless visits to the Chiropractor who provides temporary relief, until the next session. In fact, I have been so many times to the Chiropractor, I have learnt how to crack backs myself! Even my friends come to me with back problems “Hey, my back is stiff, can you give me a crack!”.

There are some Chiropractors out there who are in the profession to just make money and nothing else. I have been to some who just visit you for 5 minutes, yes 5 minutes! And crack your back and send you home until the next session. They get through about 10 patients an hour, each paying £$£$, I let you work out the math!

But I would stress, some are genuinely good and have worked wonders for some people. For back problems, I’d always advise people to see a Chiropractor, their knowledge of the spine is excellent. But it is difficult finding a “good” Chiropractor, always go on a recommendation and don’t go to ones who are fresh out of college! I’ve been there and have been a practice dummy for a few.

However, I have also heard some horror stories of certain Chiropractors where treatment has gone wrong. Adjustments of the neck are always very delicate, and some people have ended up with permanent damage to nerves during treatment.

Obviously, always see your Doctor before embarking on any treatment. My doctor however, his answer to everything was rest and pain killers! That never worked for me and in fact made my condition worse. I thought, forget this, and started researching myself into various treatments.

For me, Chiropractic doesn’t always reach the root cause of a problem, it just spends a lot of time treating the symptoms, and quite successfully too. Knowing this, I still visit the Chiropractor for temporary relief until I find something that really works!

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