deleted by creator
My newborn was having issues with reflux that affected their sleep. A mother in our support class recommended going to see an infant chiropractor for an adjustment.
I couldn’t believe my ears, and I probably made an enemy by outright asking why the fuck you would let a chiropractor crack the back of your 4 week old baby.
It amazes me how commonplace chiropractics are, and how people put a lot of faith in them before trying anything else.
Doctor: I have consulted decades of scientific literature to diagnose your ailment and provide a treatment plan based on humanity’s continually improving understanding of the biochemical workings of our bodies.
Chiropractor: I have consulted a book written by D. D. Palmer in 1895 who was a magnetic healer, anti-vaccine, and anti-medicine. He says you have ghosts in your bones and it’s messing with your natural healing powers. I’m gonna crack your back now. Yes I’m a doctor. Well not a doctor doctor, but you know.
I went to doctor school, one of the best in the country it was in!
What are chiropractors doing?
Placebo stuff? (e.g. nothing besides leaving an impression they helped)
Dangerous stuff that can work but could paralyze?
The explanations that chiropractors have for how it works are basically pseudoscience. It is for the most part a placebo (they pretend to fix alignment issues that just don’t exist). But I’m not denying there may be instances where they actually fix something which could’ve been fixed by physical therapy as well. It’s a dangerous gamble though, there are cases where people got paralyzed or outright died because of a chiropractor. This is a good overview: https://www.skepdic.com/chiro.html
And yet the chiropractor is the one who can provide you with immediate relief. If you’ve ever had a fucked up back or neck and pinched nerves, then you really understand how helpful a chiropractor can be. Are they the solution for everything? Of course not. Do they greatly help people who are in pain? Absolutely. My doctor has never provided me with any actual treatment for my back, just drugs. The chiropractor actually treats the symptoms and the causes, and it’s usually immediate and long lasting relief.
My doctor sent me to physical therapy for a month and I haven’t had any issues for almost a year.
I need something clarified by someone who doesn’t go to a chiropractor and never has.
I’ve heard it’s all bullshit from multiple sources over the years. I’ve heard they aren’t even doctors most of the time and that there’s no empirical evidence that supports chiropractic practitioners at all.
Every attempt to research this is met with thousands of results from low quality sources all singing its praise.
So is it bullshit?
It’s bullshit.
It was invented in 1895 by a guy who thought health issues were due to nerves not trasmitting enough energy in the body, which could be fixed by his new fangled snake oil medicine.
“A subluxatrd vertebra is the cause of 95 percent of all diseases, the other 5 percent is caused by displaced joints other than those in the vertabral column”
- A real quote from Daniel David Palmer, beekeeper, school teacher, grocery store owner, magnetic healing spiritualist, metaphysicist, and world’s first Chiropractor.
