Are Chiropractors Bullshit?
Are Chiropractors Bullshit
I admittedly have limited experience with chiropractors however I did just get back from an appointment with one a few minutes ago. About a week back I fell asleep on my couch with my neck crooked at a 90 degree angle. Ever since my neck has been bothering me and this morning it was really bad. I drive by a chiropractic office everyday on my way to work so happenned to look them up and noticed they allow walkins so figured what the heck and stopped by.
The chiropractor was a younger women, rather small in stature. When she went to perform a few cracks on me you could tell she didn't have the strength or force to crack me, either that or didn't know the correct area to crack, I'm not really sure. That said she cracked my neck and I walked out feeling looser and had more motion.
What really turned me off about the experience is the hard pressure sell they all put on. They want you to come in 3 times a week or even daily sometimes. It's very high pressure to get you in there and that really annoys me and kind of mirrors my past experience with a chiropractor.
A couple years back my neck was bothering me so went to a chiropractor. The office was nice and shiny and polished and while I'm in the midwest kind of gave me an LA kind of vibe, very modern, attractive receptionist, the Dr. was a young buff guy who would wear tight polos.
That place was also also a very high pressure sell. They sold you on a year long package, wanted you in 3 times per week minimum. The appointments would typically go like this. Go in wait to see the Dr. Even from the first appointment there was never really an examination it was like turn your head left, turn your head right, okay seems like your tight. Each week would do the same crack over and over again and then they'd send me to get a 15 minute massage.
They really churned people through there and oftentimes the length of an appointment as far as seeing the Dr. not counting waiting times was probably less than 5 minutes. I kind of got the impression it was a gimmick to get cheap/free massages through your insurance.
I've talked to other people who have seen chiropractors who do extensive testing of you, measuring your movements, taking x-rays, etc.
I'm curious to hear from other people who have visited chiropractors. What was your experience like? Did you find it helped? If you've seen multiple of them have you noticed some are crack factories where they churn through as many people as possible as quickly as possible?
I've read and watched some stuff where people say chiropractic is amazing, it's changed their life, it helps your overall health and also see many other people who call them quacks and say it's bullshit. Just wondering what others experiences are?
I have a similar sentiment. I've had some chiropractic work done and it does help, but the hard sell is a huge turn off. My wife recently needed work on her back and I remember the chiropractor talking about all sorts of pre-payment options, commitments, and even financing. After he listed all of the options he chose to list, I turned to my wife and said "or, you can just pay for each visit when you come." Funny how he didn't mention that option.
I think that they do some good work, but the industry seems a little scuzzy. It sort of reminds me of payday loans, but not as bad.
Then you get the real crazies who try to convince you that even holding a can of soda or energy drink makes you physically weak, while holding a bottle of juice or water makes you physically strong. A chiropractor tried to convince my brother of this, and he told me how ridiculous it was. Then, ten years later, someone tried to pull that on me on-campus in graduate school! It was in front of an audience, too and I called her out right in front of the 50 or so people in the room.
It's like, if you have an honest service to offer me, then I'll take it. But don't pull this high-pressure, weirdo pseudo-spiritualism crap on me.
Hey Koko, are you the same Koko that's my buddy on Youtube? Yeah as far as chiropractors go I think it is worthwhile and I definately think it has it's benefits but like you said the hard sell just totally turns me off to it. Not only because it's just annoying but I also kind of lose respect for the practitioner that they feel the need to conduct their business in that fashion.
I was kind of optimistic when I went to this place as they seem to do things in a different way. They said you can pay per visit, you can buy a package of visits at a discounted price or you can do a monthly plan. I thought okay cool this doesn't seem that high pressure, but the actual doctor was like yeah I'm gonna need to see you like 3x a week for the next 6 weeks.
I wound up buying a 6 package session. I guess they don't expire for a year, but I'm not going to be following their recommended schedule, I'm going to use them as I see fit when I actually have a problem I need addressed.
One other thing I noticed and not sure what this is all about but people who go to chiropractors and like it or find it helpful seem to be addicted and have to go on a regular basis. Not sure if it's just in their head or if the actual process makes you actually need it more but I really don't want to be someone who "has to" visit the chiropractor multiple times per week let alone per month.
Yep, it's me from YouTube. I wouldn't have known about this site without your channel!
Reading your last thought about being sort of addicted to going to the chiropractor, I think it's like those people who compulsively use Carmex lip balm. It's a self-reinforcing loop, and the users wind up using it when they don't need it. So they're constantly using the product (whether it's chiropractic work or lip balm), and they don't "feel right" without it. I have a similar reinforcement loop where I compulsively lotion my hands when I don't need it. Adam Carolla talked about this on an episode of his podcast once and it really made me think.
I meant to add: so while it's not a chemical addiction, it's like a behavioral addiction or habit, that gets reinforced each time the behavior occurs.
I'll have to check out Adam Corrolas podcast. I remember when I was a young teenager in middle school I used to listen to him on Loveline all the time. That show used to be hilarious. I'll have to checkout his podcast. What type of podcast is it? Is it like a Joe Rogan type thing or is he still the same personality as loveline telling funny stories about his construction days and filling his butt with water from hot tubs and having contests seeing how far he and his friends can spray it lol. Those are two lingering memories I have of his stories from loveline.
Lol! The butt water story is great!
He actually has several shows. He has his main podcast, which is like Joe Rogan with guests and stuff. Then he has the Adam and Drew show, like loveline, then there's the CarCast, Ace on the House, Take a Knee, and some others. His books are funny, too.
Kind of off topic but somewhat related about chiropractors. Prior to deciding to go I was watching some Youtube videos just to get an idea of what to expect. I came upon this one video which I found kind of funny. I get it from a marketing perspective but also found it kind of hard to take the guy seriously. His patient was a pretty attractive women. She was dressed in yoga pants and a lowcut shirt and it seemed to me like the camera man made a point to get a lot of shots of her cleavage. I found the thing kind of entertaining. Here's my post
https://steemit.com/science/@rulesforrebels/who-would-have-thought-a-chiropractic-offices-video-could-be-so-entertaining
In Sydney, Australia, the line between physiotherapy and chiropractic is becoming more and more blurred each day.
Traditionally a chiropractor would only assess and adjust the spine. However, why would you ignore the great work done by physiotherapists, exercise physiologists and even osteopaths? I'm not sure about the rest of the world but here in Australia we are very evidence based. Our universities go to great extends to rid chiropractic of this stigma and are more progressive these days encouraging other forms and modalities. Adopting skills like rehabilitation, soft tissue massage, deep tissue massage, acupuncture/dry needling, myofascial release and the list goes on. If it works I generally learn it and I know a lot of chiropractors that do the same.
But with each profession, you have the good and bad. Even with physiotherapists. My best mate is a physio and we are constantly learning off each other. In summary, there are professionals out there driven by money and others actually motivated by getting their patient better and learning what they need to help or refer out (physio, osteos, exercise physiologists included).
Don't judge the profession, you just havn't found the right practitioner yet :)
Hope this helps. Send me a message if you have any more questions. happy to help
Angelo Campanella
Many Chiropractors border on being used car salesmen. My sister is a Physical Therapist and for years has complained endlessly about many of the shyster tactics they employ. If you look at the data, Chiropractors have more cases of fraud than about any other medical profession.