Why is chiropractic still practiced?

Because people still pay for it.

OK, I’ll bite, why not? Go for it! Links and all!

Why not? It works for some people.

It’s less bad than a lot of things out there, like the anti-vaxxers and the folks who go to faith healers.

It’s a free country. People can spend their money as they please.

My girlfriend was in a bad car accident about eight years ago. Despite the air bag going off, she got banged up. Nothing broken, but lots of bruises.

Her insurance company paid for 26 Chiropractic appts. per year for 5 years. Considered appropriate care. She loved it, got a massage every other week.

“Her insurance company paid for 26 Chiropractic”

And now you know why there is still chiropractic.

Like anything else, if there is a perceived need & those willing to fork over the fees in its fulfillment, the profession will endure. Why are there lion tamers & astrologers?

It was never needed. It is fraud, plain and simple.

I went to an osteopath in New Zealand. But not all osteos are trained the same. Some are full of mumbo jumbo as it tured out. I think it’s probably the same with chiropractors. Paul was a gifted healer. My migraines and neck and shoulder pain disappeared. Paul was one in a million though.

Those I know who are into it swear it works. I’m sure it does work for them to some extent, but even if its curative powers were only in their minds, it still would be worth it to them.

The placebo effect is very powerful.

Also Wilk v. American Medical Association

Because, done right, it works.

Chiropractic gets a bad name from hacks that either don’t know what they’re doing or apply it to ailments that aren’t improved by it.

No. It gets a bad name because it’s based upon pseudoscience.

I totally agree, @Rarebear . The only thing that fixed my problems were the therapeutic aspects of Paul’s massages.

Having crippling back pain when I’m only 23 yrs old, I go to chiropractors because I haven’t found any useful help elsewhere. You get pretty desperate when in pain. I’ve been to five different chiropractors, three of which sucked. One works fairly well that I still go to him. The last was AMAZING, but I discovered him just before I moved and he commutes to CA so I have a difficult time seeing him.

So in my opinion there’s a lot of chiropractors out there that are scams, or who just aren’t knowledgable enough to do much help for people. But there are a few gems out there who really know their stuff. The one that helped me the most, I know others he’s helped as well who couldn’t find relief elsewhere, even with things such as arm pain. He called himself a Craniosacral Chiropractor, I’m not sure what it was but he just worked magic.

If anyone cares I’ve found that foam rollers, core exercises etc at home have helped the most in relieving my pain. I go to the chiro when I’m desperate.

In my experience, the more expensive, the worse the service I received. In fact the most expensive of the five I’ve seen kind of screwed me up worse. The cheapest one was the best one.

It’s one of those things IMO that a lot of people take seriously simpy because they do not know better. I still have a hard time with the fact that it is somewhow so mainstream that insurance companies will pay for sessions.

@Rarebear

“No. It gets a bad name because it’s based upon pseudoscience.”

So when my back was severely twisted playing sandlot football and immediately I was unable to stand straight without extreme pain the chiropractor’s sessions benefited me only in my imagination?

The chiropractor went as far as to show me faked x rays that somehow matched my injury and then at the end of my time with him showed me a normal spine that happened to match mine?

Other doctors wanted to put me in traction.

What a fool I was to not go with that option, right?

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/top-10-chiropractic-studies-of-2013/

@SecondHandStoke You would have gotten better anyway. That’s the beauty of pseudomedicine in that quacks of any stripe can do whatever they want, and just wait for the body’s ability to heal itself. They charge you money and call it a win.

But by all means. Spend the money.

@Rarebear

My younger brother had seen a surgeon that was going to do an operation on him, my mother insisted he see a chiropractor first. The chiropractor did a examination and had a couple X-Rays done of his back and legs. Chiropractor asks my brother if he was 13 or 14 when he broke his left ankle, his left leg was ¾ of an inch shorter then his right. A lift in his heel of his shoes and an insert in the shoe, all was well. Dollars, many dollars for an operation or twenty for a modified heel on a shoe and lift in his shoe.
I believe the surgeon was looking for a solution using surgery because he was surgeon.

The doctors I am most sceptical about are orthopaedic surgeons. (That’s real doctors, not chiropractors) I am very sceptical about chiropractors, physiotherapists and osteopaths. I’m not saying that none of them help their patients, but what I will say is that their training is not standardised enough and there isn’t enough testing of their practices. I’ve never seen a chiropractor, but I know many people who find themselves a good one and rave about them. I’ve seen osteopaths and found only one that ever helped. Same goes for physiotherapists. I must have seen a dozen physiotherapists, but only one ever really helped me. I won’t poo-poo them all. But if someone ever told me they wanted to send me to an orthopaedic surgeon, I’d do EVERYTHING in my power to not go. I’ve also resisted cortisone shots.

It is always good to be skeptical of everybody, including doctors. You need to make sure that doctors are providing best care based upon science. You don’t want to go to anybody who believes in energy fields or imaginary subluxations or people who manipulate perfectly healthy spines for money putting children at risk or in the hands of someone who will give you a stroke.

Chiropractic medicine is not pseudoscience. The skeletal system in our bodies is real. It is much less invasive than surgery. Everyone i know that has had surgery on their back are still in pain. Being a hater also causes health problems.

The skeletal system is real and therefore chiropractic is not pseudoscience? Please. They believe in nonexistent subluxations can manipulate nonexistent energy fields that can effect diseases such as asthma which have nothing to do with the spine.

@Rarebear If that’s true, how did Palmer restore his patient’s hearing with back rubs?

@gorillapaws :-)
Harriet Hall is one of my heroes.

If your bones are out of place you know it. If someone puts them back in place you know it. What kind of experience do you have with this? Any??????? Maby you should go an get surgery. That sounds like fun.

@greatfullara I have a great deal of experience with it. Far more than you do, I wager.

@greatfullara , @Rarebear actually studied real science and medicine, in actual accredited universities.

And if your bones are out of place, they are dislocated and you should go to a real doctor.

@cazzie that never matters to true believers. They all believe that I am funded by Big Pharma and that I am a shill. Still waiting for my first check.

I guess I still am not sure how chiropractic made it to the point where it is licensed by the state. To people who don’t know what it really is it would seem to be a totally legit medical specialty like a podiatrist or dentist.

@ARE_you_kidding_me They have money, and they contribute to political candidates, who are notoriously ignorant when it comes to science matters.

I was thinking it had to be revenue from licensure fees but essentially a chiropractic lobby makes more sense. Makes me wonder what other things we may assume are legit sneak through as well.

Acupuncture.
Homeopathy.