Isn't this supposed to be good for you?

[reynardo]

My beloved lederhosen attends a chiropractor near where he works, and it does him much good.

And besides, the lovely brandtotter has performed a couple of adjustments on me and each time I have felt great, walked taller, and the nagging "too long on the computer" upper back ache had been banished for some time.

So when my beloved suggested I attend, I agreed, After all, the chiropractor has proper qualifications (eg "Macquarie University" rather than "Fast Dan's Online Coledge of Chiropracterz") and an "Improvement after three visits or your money returned" policy.



My beloved works in the city, a two-hour-train + 30-minute-bus ride from home. As he's heading into work, it makes sense for him to go here. For me, though, it's a bit of a nuisance, so I wanted the experience to be worth it.

X-ray and other tests showed something I had suspected for a while - I'm bent. A series of "adjustments" was proposed. I looked forward to walking taller and being free of slight nagging backache.

The first adjustments involved some rather loud crunching noises, and twistings and pressings and scary neck-jerks. It also, alas, involved a level of condescension from the chiropractor that I don't enjoy. However, I walked out of the surgery a little disappointed, as I didn't feel any different. No "walking taller". No feeling of freeing and loosening such as I had felt before.

That night the chiropractor rang me to see how I felt, and I told him there was no difference at all.

The next morning was a different story. My back ached. My legs ached. The pain in my hips made me reluctant to move. The appointment had been Thursday, and from the Friday to the next Monday I was in constant aching pain, as my hips and my thighs and my knees and my back protested any time I sat or stood still for more than a minute then tried to move again. The pain increased all the way until Monday when it started to recede, but this still involved a reluctance to move and an inability to run without paying for it later.

So on Tuesday I told the chiropractor this, figuring that I'd do the first three treatments as it might take time for the improvement to kick in. I pointed out that the pain and sleeplessness was cutting into my study time. His response, which surprised me a little, was that the improvements would be something he could see but I might not be able to. By this stage, after little restful sleep from the pain, I was almost in tears. I felt like he had dismissed my study as not important and my complaints as trivial. The adjustments he did were painful in the already-sore parts, although those with no problems didn't feel any different.

By Thursday life was starting to get really difficult. You have no idea how may times you bend each day until you find yourself trying to get out of bending. Packing a dishwasher. Putting out washing. Making a bed. Putting on shoes. Long hot showers and baths were helping, as were small amounts of paracetamol. Both my beloved and I postponed the next appointment until Tuesday, and we agreed that I would give the full three treatments a try and then decide.

So yesterday I went for the third adjustment session. The combination of the heat and the painkillers had me asleep for most of the journey, (a two-hour study time I just couldn't do). At the surgery, I was stunned to hear the chiropractor refer to me as "girl". I told him the painkillers were interfering with study and the pain interfering with sleep. He acted as if I hadn't said anything.

I almost fainted from the combination of the heat and the painkillers later, and the train trip home was another "zonk" time. I was in bed asleep by 7:45pm, dopey and getting incoherent. It still hurts to bend, and it'll get worse. And the lack of exercise has all sorts of side-effects I'm not enjoying.

So there's been a whole day of essential study wasted and I've been treated like a "clever little girl" again - an attitude I hate. I have an exam for three hours today, after which time I'll probably fall out of my seat, being incapable of standing without a very slow and awkwardly inelegant stagger. I can't concentrate very well with painkillers and I can't sit for long without them.

It's temporary, guys. It's not like it's a permanent problem. But unless the body miraculously improves in the next 2 hours I am not going back to this guy again.

I just find it odd that I got so much relief before from a friend who has some knowledge, and yet from a professional I'm just getting pain.

If there is supposed to be an improvement after 3 adjustments, they have to be improvements that I can feel. Mysterious improvements that only the practitioner can find are too esoteric for me. And they stink of quackery.

Comments

My 2c

[entrippy.livejournal.com]

I've seen a few osteopaths in my time and they've always been magnificent. I've heartily recommended them to friends in pain and they've always reported success. There's a big difference between them and a chiro, which comes down to this.

a) Everyone I know who goes to a chiro keeps going back. For a long, long time. Years, in many cases - and they never seem to really get better.
b) Everyone I know who goes to an osteo goes once, maybe twice and is better for years, in many cases. This includes all sorts of strange and esoteric back problems ranging from pulled muscles, strains, pinches and so on and so forth. There's on in Druid house across the road from RMIT that's dirt cheap ($30? maybe $40?) and they're great. Go once, just to give it a whirl. If you end up no better, it's no great loss from where you are now, if you do - then great.

They're also not into the whole "making you hurt and cracking your bones" stuff that chiros do.

[jazzmasterson.livejournal.com]

Chiropractors are not all created equal, and (worse) their effectiveness vary from patient to patient. If this doc is being condescending and unhelpful, and worse, is ignoring your perfectly valid complaints of being in physical pain, then by all means, never darken his doorstep again.

And you do not have to pay him; I'd like to see him explain before a magistrate that you really were "improved" but only he can tell the difference. Uh huh. Can I use that argument for not paying my bills?

"Really, sir, I paid you, but it's with money only I can see!"

Or: "No, really, I painted your house, but only I can tell the difference in color! Pay up."

"I fixed your heater, but the difference is subtle; only my delicate instruments can tell the difference in temperature in here."

On a serious note, many patients have told me that how comfortable and relaxed you are with a chiropractor tends to affect the effectiveness of an adjustment. If this guy put you off with his attitude, it's quite possible that you were quite a bit tenser when he adjusted you than you were with your friend.

Find someone you're comfortable with. You might want to hold an interview with a few chiros beforehand, to see how warm or cold they leave you. It's certainly a lot less painful that way than what you've just gone through. Now go lie down and get better.

Need a bigger box.

[chaos-crafter.livejournal.com]

I was going to mail Lainie to you, but I couldn't find a big enough box. I think you'll have to move down to melbourne where we have our own cute, friendly, helpful chiropractor/dance instructor.

[malada.livejournal.com]

I've been going to two very good chiropracters over the years and my health generally seems to be better, and my pinched nerve doesn't scream in agony. The person you had was jerk. Get thee to a Hot Tub or jacuzzi for some relief... it really helps. If I owned one of those, I'd never get out!

-m

[turnberryknkn.livejournal.com]

Ow.

Hope you're back to normal, backwise, soon.