Going to the Chiro. I need advice.

[newpump]

Guys,

I just wanted to say thanks for this post. I've had lower back pain since last year, brought on when I started lifting. Basically, I was WAY out of form with standing curls (yep - "joe new lifter" trying to pile on the weight with terrible form). I guess I am a poster boy for "the right weight" and "lift with good form". Anyway, I felt this "sliding" sensation in my lower back - hard to discribe - but sort of like the vertibrae was "sliding" sideways (scarey). I didn't feel quite right for the rest of the evening. When I woke up the next morning, I couldn't move. I went to the chiropractor and he explained that I had a "swollen disk". He gave me a backbrace and told me to stay on my back for a week. It helped a great deal, but I still have pain. I've been putting off going to get an MRI, because I'm scared I guess. This has been a great post - I'm going to try and get more work scheduled up this week. I just hope I don't have to stop lifting!!!!!

 

[MassMadeEasy]

It kind of disturbs me to see how little most of the people who gave you advice on this subject actually know. No flames to anyone because they are just tring to help, but when I read a thread that I know nothing about I don't post.

I understand your concerns, King, I will try to explain some things to everyone briefly. BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY I KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT.

A Chiropractors primary focus is on the nervous system. It is the primary focus because the nervous system controls, directly or indirectly, every organ, tissue, muscle, and cell in the entire body. The spine is most often the area of focus due to the many joints and articulations and thier close relationship to the central nervous system( the brain and spinal cord ). That said, a secondary concern is that of fixation (or lack of motion) this in itself may lead to nervous involvment, decrease in disc height, changes in the structure of the spinal column, and thus, diminished health.

Most Chiropractors are trained in the many different modalities of physiotherapy, including various heating techniques, various cold therapies, electric stim, ultrasound, rehab, stretching and some may have specialties in soft tissue work as well. Just as in the medical profession, DON'T SELF DIAGNOSE, they are the doctor and you are the patient for a reason and that is education.

The reason that you will most likely have to visit your Chiropractor more than once is not to line his pockets but to fix the underlying problem that got you where you are. Chiropractors are not invasive, meaning if you fucked something up years prior and it has taken years to generate symptoms it is not going to be fixed in one visit.

Your Chiropractor will be able to determine the appropriate course of action be it X-Ray, MRI, adjustment, rehab, physiotherapy, massage or a combonation. The bad news is this will cost you, the good news is that if you went to a M.D. the same procedures would cost you 5-10 times as much.

Last minute misconception clean up:

An adjustment will not make a minor muscle strain worse in fact it may fascilitate the healing process.

Getting adjusted frequently is not bad nor does it lead to instability(think about all the people who pop their knuckels, you don't see their finger tips wiggleing around do you? Not exactly the same thing but gets the point across)

Shots of cortizone or another drug which covers up pain will only fuck things up worse. Your back hurts for a reason listen to it, don't cover it up and ignore your body while making things worse.

You may feel worse before you feel better.

A.R.T. was invented by a chiropractor.

Just because you don't feel syptoms does not mean you don't need an adjustment or that you are well.

For some reason M.D.s and D.C.s (Doctor of Chiropractic) don't tend to be the best of friends. It is interesting however that their general education requirements are very similar as far as time and courses. Both use the same texts, study the same facts, but when all said and done after 4000 class room hours they arrive at two totally different viewpoints on what health care is. Who is right and who is wrong? That is for you to decide.

Hope this helps.

-Mass-

 

[Silent Method]

Good post MassMadeEasy. Karma for you.

 

[KingOfPain]

It kind of disturbs me to see how little most of the people who gave you advice on this subject actually know. No flames to anyone because they are just tring to help, but when I read a thread that I know nothing about I don't post.

I understand your concerns, King, I will try to explain some things to everyone briefly. BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY I KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT.

A Chiropractors primary focus is on the nervous system. It is the primary focus because the nervous system controls, directly or indirectly, every organ, tissue, muscle, and cell in the entire body. The spine is most often the area of focus due to the many joints and articulations and thier close relationship to the central nervous system( the brain and spinal cord ). That said, a secondary concern is that of fixation (or lack of motion) this in itself may lead to nervous involvment, decrease in disc height, changes in the structure of the spinal column, and thus, diminished health.

Most Chiropractors are trained in the many different modalities of physiotherapy, including various heating techniques, various cold therapies, electric stim, ultrasound, rehab, stretching and some may have specialties in soft tissue work as well. Just as in the medical profession, DON'T SELF DIAGNOSE, they are the doctor and you are the patient for a reason and that is education.

The reason that you will most likely have to visit your Chiropractor more than once is not to line his pockets but to fix the underlying problem that got you where you are. Chiropractors are not invasive, meaning if you fucked something up years prior and it has taken years to generate symptoms it is not going to be fixed in one visit.

Your Chiropractor will be able to determine the appropriate course of action be it X-Ray, MRI, adjustment, rehab, physiotherapy, massage or a combonation. The bad news is this will cost you, the good news is that if you went to a M.D. the same procedures would cost you 5-10 times as much.

Last minute misconception clean up:

An adjustment will not make a minor muscle strain worse in fact it may fascilitate the healing process.

Getting adjusted frequently is not bad nor does it lead to instability(think about all the people who pop their knuckels, you don't see their finger tips wiggleing around do you? Not exactly the same thing but gets the point across)

Shots of cortizone or another drug which covers up pain will only fuck things up worse. Your back hurts for a reason listen to it, don't cover it up and ignore your body while making things worse.

You may feel worse before you feel better.

A.R.T. was invented by a chiropractor.

Just because you don't feel syptoms does not mean you don't need an adjustment or that you are well.

For some reason M.D.s and D.C.s (Doctor of Chiropractic) don't tend to be the best of friends. It is interesting however that their general education requirements are very similar as far as time and courses. Both use the same texts, study the same facts, but when all said and done after 4000 class room hours they arrive at two totally different viewpoints on what health care is. Who is right and who is wrong? That is for you to decide.

Hope this helps.

-Mass-

thanks bro! thats some good info... I guess I will just go there and see what the man has to say, and unless he says to come back 3 times a week for the rest of my life then I will do what I have to do to get myself better... Of course I am gonna come back here and see what you guys think about his diagnosis and recommendations as well!
but that underlying problem I think may be related to my bad posture (and scoliosis) which I brought with me into the gym and no matter how hard I focused on my form, sometimes my shitty posture would take over while lifting... and I am sure that what has me where i am at now.... In any case I made matters worse myself by pushing it and continuing to do deads and squats when it 1st started hurting a little, until the point that i really messed it up. I mistakenly and very absentmindedly thought it would go AWAY!
anyway, i was only hurting when I went to the gym(and would feel better after about 20 minutes), but recently I started back into my old basketball league and after the 1st day of that I couldnt even move and it has been CHRONIC ever since then (like 2 or 3 weeks ago).... Plus this 20 pounds or so that I have put on during my current cycle has not helped matters and that extra weight is only making things tougher on my back. I have been throwing in some cardio (seated bike is all i can do without pain) and trying to not put on any unwanted weight, but nothing seems to be helping.... So hopefully this guy on Tuesday can help me figure out what the problem is!!!!

anyway thank you for your help!

 

[MassMadeEasy]

Wise choice. I think that everyone should understand a little more what I mean about the underlying cause.

Your body is set up to perform at 100%, to perform to its maximum potential in whatever condition you encounter. A Chiropractor belives that if your spine is not functioning properly, for some reason, this will change the nervous impulses flowing out to every cell in your body via the nerve roots which exit your spine. It takes only 15mmHg pressure to cause a change in nerve function, that is next to nothing. What can cause this pressure is edema, inflammation, herniations, and many other factors as well.

Will you know when there is a decrease in function? Sometimes yes, but sometimes no. Like I said nerve impulses to every cell in the body, many of the cells including organs that have no sensory component, so sometimes it is imposible to know!

The thing that scares me most while reading on this board is the number of low back injuries, many of which are disc ruptures or herniations (by the way discs don't "slip", that just makes you sound like you don't know what you are talking about when you say that). Surgery for every disc herniation is uncalled for and Chiropractic care for every disc herniation is uncalled for, go to the doctor and let them decide what is best.

Here is what I wanted to get to, the disc is avascular(gets no direct blood supply) so healing takes longer because. It gets its nutrition from the movement of the vertebrea above and below imbibing the disc with nutrients and fluid. Nutrients to heal fluid to maintain proper pressure and maintain health. Decrease motion causes decreased fluid, thus resulting in a thin disc, a less efficient disc, an easily injured disc. Decrease motion is the primary concern in finding a "Subluxation" (what Chiropractors look for and adjust). So Subluxation->Decreased motion->thin disc->injuries. This process takes years to run its coarse, but the longer you wait, the more time it will take to get back to normal.

You spend hundreds of dollars on gear to be "healthy" why not spend 40 a month and prevent things before they happen. Just a thought.

-Mass-

 

[KingOfPain]

I copied this from a thread I posted on Bolex....

So i finally went to see the "good" doctor today and I was really surprised at how things went. Before going there I asked around and I was really expecting him to ask certain questions and go through certain proceedures, but none of that shit ever happened....

When I got there I told him that I "believed" i may have a strained muscle and that I was quite certain i hurt it in the gym doing deadlifts. So I thought he was going to insist on some exrays or feel around or SOMETHING! But all he did was crack my shit, without even checking for a more serious injury and with very little questions concerning how I got hurt in the 1st place. Then he tells me that I should continue doing deadlifts (at a lower weight) and that I shouldnt really adjust my behavior in the gym other than to go a little lighter and take come of the weight off.... I told this guy "look you dont understand, I can hardly fucking drive my car - there is NO way I can continue to work it out"... Then he told me "just come in three times a week for the next two weeks for adjustments and then once or twice a month beyond that and you will be fine"..... Of course this is what I want to hear (to keep working out and you will soon be better), but not when it comes from a guy who didnt even check to see what is wrong in the 1st place!

Well I felt little better for like an hour, but now it is feeling just the same as it has been. I tried telling him how serious the pain was and how i could hardly move sometimes, but it seems as though he just wanted to believe that it is minor and no big deal.
Oh well! Fuck that shit! I am not going to waste my fucking time, but that still leaves me with a fucked up back and not knowing what to do about it!

I am going to try and locate one of those ART therapist guys and see what they can do, and I bought some MSM and some of that Glucsamine, but I dont know how much that will help with my back... i heard it will help with joints, but fuck it those are hurting me too!

One thing this visit did make me do is to re-evalute why the fuck i have been obsessed with putting on all this weight lately - as if I am ever going to compete or get paid for benchpressing 500 pounds! And I enjoy playing in all my sports leagues as much if not more than working out, and right now i cant play in them (at 100%) due to this shit.... I need to start getting back to HEALTHY training and maitaining a reasonable weight! I dont know how you guys train soo hard without getting hurt or how you put up with all the injuries! this shit is getting to me, it seems I am getting hurt all the time now.... and I am fucking careful too, i do moderate reps (6-10) with good form. But all it takes is a little lack of concentration and BAM there goes your back! or your elbow, or shoulder, etc.... Or maybe I am just getting old, because I have worked out for over 15 years(off and on) and have never had all this shit to deal with until recently.

 

[Kakdiesel]

hey mass made easy! are you a dc? or a chiro student?

I'm at Life U here in marietta...just started though really last fall..

But honestly, thank you for the post you made..so many people on this board and in general have so many misconceptions about chiropractors and their true stature in the healthcare profession.

I cant believe that people dont realize how important chiropractic and superior it is to medicine. We are specialists in the CNS and PNS...and like you said, people dont realize that our brain/spinal cord is the source of innervation for every organ, tissue, and muscle and controls everything from sensory to motor function--basically the nervous system and endocrine system are the two ONLY important things in terms of health. If both are functioning properly, no one should have a "dis-ease" or chronic injury.

And i'll say this one more time--chiro's dont "crack" backs..the "cracking" sound you hear is just nitrogen gas pockets being released between the articulations of your vetebral bodies..

 

[KingOfPain]

And i'll say this one more time--chiro's dont "crack" backs..the "cracking" sound you hear is just nitrogen gas pockets being released between the articulations of your vetebral bodies..

ahhh i didnt know that! thats interesting. But dont ya think this guy should of "investigated" things a little more befor e releasing my "nitrogen"? or am i just not aware of the proper proceedures? fill me in bro, spread the knowledge! thx

 

[Kakdiesel]

Investigate what bro? The gas release between joints or bone connections (articulations) of nitrogen is a natural occurrence..there is no "side-effect" to the gas pockets being released..like massmadeeasy said, look at people who pop their knuckles..

personally I think chiropractic should be everybody's first choice..its preventive healthcare...and its not a specific prevention either..it makes your body have overall wellness and gives the body the stability it needs to fight off any disease/injury for itself. without drugs.without surgery.

here's a great analogy for those who do not understand chiropractic and what it is.

Take a water spout, garden hose, and a plant. The water spout represents your brain (central nervous system), the water is mental impulses (motor/sensory neaurons) while the garden hose is your spine, and the plant is an organ, tissue, or muscle in your body.

turn the water on, the spout gives the plant everything it needs to grow and survive and remain healthy. Now what happens when we bend the hose somewhere between the spout and the plant? Less to no water comes out right? That represents the a spinal sublixation (or disposition of a vetebral body).

So we have a misalignment in our backs, but we dont know it cuz yeah sure the plant can survive for a while without the water.it appears to be "fine" (as we would appear fine and healthy without signs or symptons of anything wrong even if we have a sublixation) But soon after a while, the plants start to turn brown, the leaves wither, etc...

What would modern medicine do? They would tell you the overload on fertilizer for the plant and it will make it better (prescription drugs to "cover up" the problems)..or they'll tell you that you need to cut off the brown, withering leaves on it and then the plant will be healthy again..gettin rid of the "dead" parts will make it all ok (just like with surgery--ever stop to ask yourself, "are there too many organs and not enough pills?"--the answer, a HELL NO)

So really, to get the plant back to health and functioning properly, the chiropractor will adjust the hose (spine) and let the water (mental impulses) flow freely again.

Make sense?/

 

[Kakdiesel]

ahhh i didnt know that! thats interesting. But dont ya think this guy should of "investigated" things a little more befor e releasing my "nitrogen"? or am i just not aware of the proper proceedures? fill me in bro, spread the knowledge! thx

procedue would probably be like this: First a verbal session in which the doctor would ask you a multiple of questions about your lifestyle, background, etc.

Then he would probably palpate where you said it "hurt" (palpating is just feeling with your fingers--we go through 4 years of training almost with palpation and you'd be suprised how sensitive and efficient the tips of chiropractic fingers become in feeling ANYTHING out of place through the skin and muscle), or he'd give you a leg check (raising your legs etc while you lay down on an adjustment table) and last but not least, an X-ray to actually SEE what you look like.

The next step would be his diagnosis on what exactly is wrong (after examining the xray)..then he would use a technique to use on your to adjust/correct the sublixation..

Again realize, just like working out in the gym, one time will not automatically fix everything for you. You're not goin to go in the gym once a month and expect to be huge and ripped, so why would you expect your body/spine to be all better after only ONE session? Repeated visits (although some may argue are too many) keep the spine from being sublixated long enough so that your body can "stay" corrected by itself after a certain point--hence, preventive health care