Most of the stuff chiropractors do, you can do yourself. It's just daily exercising and stretching. If you must, consult a physical therapist.
Yes your getting boned, but there are some good ones out there. My hips were jacked up and the outer part of my right thigh just above the knee was numb. My chiropractor fixed me with one treatment. Told me to drink a beer or two before bed and to call if I have a problem. Every now and then she'll have me come back the fallowing week to make sure things are staying in place depending on how bad of shape I was in.
Some years ago, I saw an MD for high cholesterol. He put me on statins. Statins caused such severe muscle pain in my legs I couldn't stand up, let alone walk. Went back to MD. He said I had to "deal with it" because there was "no other option." I wasn't an RN at that time, but I still knew that was crap, so I found a new MD. New MD put me on fenofibrate and niacin, and my cholesterol has been fine ever since. Point is, not all MDs are worth a damn, and chiropractors aren't any different. I have pretty severe back problems, and my chiropractor is absolutely amazing. As in "it took me 10 minutes to get out of the car to come into the office because I threw my back out and now I can walk out of here like a normal human being" amazing.
This. People pretend this is a chiro issue when it's used by "real" doctors all the time. Just because they're more science-based doesn't mean they're not money-driven also. The key is finding the professionals who actually care about solving your problem and are willing to go above beyond a flowchart to get you a solution. People say this or that doesn't work, but a lot of the time it's the way it's applied or practiced, not the technique itself, that doesn't work. Or sometimes it just doesn't work for the problem you have, but does for others. It's like Crossfit. Lots of people do it without injuries, get great results, and look and feel great...however, it became such a fad that a lot of people got into it to be cool and make money. Then they become coaches and owners and set up Crossfit to be ridiculed.
I have never tried a chiropractor, but I am a fan of Physical Therapy, when appropriate. Had some great help from a PT when I had back trouble and I've never looked back. To me, that's great treatment for an ailment: when you don't have to keep going back.
Not sure if checked him out OP, but this is one pattern out there that leads to compensation. My guess is you have some pelvic/spinal rotation in there, not just a weak abductor (which you ruled out already). <blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="4" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:50% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr+JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhLw7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nYFnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://instagram.com/p/xYantFp8Xr/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_top">I've been getting a lot of emails with people asking me to give them advice on their back pain. And the answer that I always give is "DEPENDS WHO'S BACK IT IS!". Everyone's pattern of movement and restrictions is so unique and the way their body readjust to protect them from further pain is uniquely complex as well. So if I was to give you a generic answer or something that doesn't apply to you, I can seriously mess you up. That's why I'm always very careful with what I post and I don't like to post "solutions" to your problems. (Not until I find a way to do it in a safe manner) To help you understand how one simple restriction can turn into a complex problem, here's an example. In the picture you can see how one small thing such as tightness in the right side of your back can affect the whole structure. Let's go step by step shall we? 1⃣-Patient comes in and is balanced. 2⃣- injury or common movement patterns over time create right muscle tightness. Right back side muscles pull on pelvis. Right Foot is elevated off ground. 3⃣- in order to keep the pelvis leveled, you have to put both feet on the ground. This causes your pelvis to be straight but your torso is now side bent to the right. 4⃣- in order to center your head, your spine now has to twist and rotate accordingly. This puts undue pressure on your muscles,nerves and joints. 5⃣- your left leg, in an attempt to reduce pressure on your spine, rotates and shortens. This movement protects your spine from a more severe pain, but now your leg will feel "off". 6⃣- You end up with a mix of spinal rotations and side bends and soft tissue restrictions, which causes a pain pattern that no health specialist can fix because they don't think structurally and they base their diagnosis on "where does it hurt?" The old model of rehab is dead. You cannot "fix" a problem properly if you do not understand how all the moving pieces work together. And that kids, is the way the crumbles. #myodetox #structureiskey #rehabcity #rehabordietrying #physio #chiro #rehab #leggo</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A photo posted by Vinh Pham (@vinnierehab) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2015-01-03T06:19:43+00:00">Jan 2, 2015 at 10:19pm PST</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async defer src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script>
This entire thread is pretty much chiro bashing. Let me come to their defense...slightly. I evaluated a bunch of chiros when I had back/neck issues come up. A lot of them were giving me similar treatment plans/costs to yours. Doing a lot of research (and a general gut feel)--I decided not to do anything with them. Fast forward a few months, and I decided to re-investigate after moving to Seattle. I found someone that I really liked, especially in contrast to the idiots I had seen before. This guy has always said "if I can't get to the bottom of the issue and fix it within 2-4 weeks, we need to figure something else out." He never hesitates to recommend PT or massage as appropriate. My lower back issues (that had been lingering for ~3 years) have been solved...which is pretty awesome thinking back about how awful and persistent it was. When I was thinking about moving to the other side of the city, I asked him who he might recommend in case I was too far. He thought about it, and he named one chiro he'd recommend in this entire area. Basically, he doesn't trust the majority of the people in his profession either. tl;dr: Good ones are out there, and they are super helpful. But even they know that 90% are bad.
Your MD really said that? You're describing statin induced myopathy (can lead to rhabdomyolysis); any physician should know to stop statins in this situation. Secondly, cholesterol is a very broad term. You can have increased LDL, triglycerides, or even low HDL. You did not state your numbers, but fenofibrates and niacin do not do a good job of lowering LDL, which most people have problems with when they say high cholesterol. Maybe your physician was an *******. I'm not saying that I don't believe you, but this is really general knowledge that every single physician should know.
I'm a chiropractor, and multiple "real" doctors, both GPs and orthos, refer patients to me all the time. I'm not going to post much else, I'm used to the chiro bashing. I just know that every day I get patients relief that have tried just about everything else, including PT and meds. There are good and bad apples in every profession, unfortunately the OP went to a bad one.
How healthy do you eat? Do you exercise and get proper sleep? How about mental stress? High blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes and cancer are all usually hand in hand with an unhealthy lifestyle.
Go to a place called "The Joint" they are all over Houston/Dallas and they only charge you $20 for an adjustment for the first visit. No wait or appointment needed either. Its like a fast food for adjustments. They have real chiropractors working there (most who have their own practice and work there part time for some extra $$$) Beware: they will try to sell you a package, but its not needed (even tho IMO the packages are worth it. You can do 3 adjustments a week for like $50/month) http://www.thejoint.com/ Adjustments are nice. Especially to give you relief from back pain. I only go whenever I pull something (which happens about once every two months)
I'm an RN. I know what rhabdo is, and I know the difference between LDL, HDL, and triglycerides. I didn't post my numbers or get further into it because it wasn't relevant; I just told the story to illustrate my point. At the time, my LDL was high, as were my triglycerides. I wasn't an RN at this particular point in time, but I still knew there had to be another option, so I got another doctor, and the combo of Fenofibrate 160mg and Niacin 2,000mg got my LDL and triglycerides into the normal range. So my original point stands: not all doctors (of whatever type) are created equal.
I know that YOU know what they all mean, but my post was also informative for people that are not in healthcare. Also, what you've stated here was not my point. I was trying to say that your scenario is basically very, very rare, as opposed to the situation that the OP stated. Yes, you'll find bad physicians, just as you'll find bad chiros, but my point was that 1 bad apple out of 10,000 is not the same as 1 bad apple out of 5. Continuing a statin while a patient is having severe statin induced myopathy is just rare.
Neither. Major in size, mostly. Think west of those areas. IE....the great lakes area. Curious to know what you think about the school itself.
