What to look for in a chiropractor?

[Derek Weaver]

Some back ground: About six years ago I had a neck and shoulder injury from playing high school rugby. In turn, I now have a slew of ailments that were never properly addressed that may be linked to the neck and shoulder being out of alignment/excessively tight. Mainly spasms in my back, popping in the neck. Shoulder is fine and pretty much like new in terms of strength, flexibility etc.

I foam roll, use the tennis ball etc. but am thinking that in order to get full relief for my back and neck it may be time to see a chiropractor (saw one before my shoulder was scoped and he only exacerbated the injury by tinkering with my shoulder. PT theorized that I may have been able to rehab the shoulder without surgical intervention, but almost 6 months of PT proved to be of little to no help and I ended up having my shoulder operated on).

What I am taking way too long to get to is: what should I look for in a chiropractor? Is it even worth it? Or are there alternatives that I am not aware of that may be a woth a shot before letting someone move things around in my back and neck?

Thanks for any input/suggestions.

[sarena kopciel]

Originally Posted by Derek Weaver

Some back ground: About six years ago I had a neck and shoulder injury from playing high school rugby. In turn, I now have a slew of ailments that were never properly addressed that may be linked to the neck and shoulder being out of alignment/excessively tight. Mainly spasms in my back, popping in the neck. Shoulder is fine and pretty much like new in terms of strength, flexibility etc.

I foam roll, use the tennis ball etc. but am thinking that in order to get full relief for my back and neck it may be time to see a chiropractor (saw one before my shoulder was scoped and he only exacerbated the injury by tinkering with my shoulder. PT theorized that I may have been able to rehab the shoulder without surgical intervention, but almost 6 months of PT proved to be of little to no help and I ended up having my shoulder operated on).

What I am taking way too long to get to is: what should I look for in a chiropractor? Is it even worth it? Or are there alternatives that I am not aware of that may be a woth a shot before letting someone move things around in my back and neck?

Thanks for any input/suggestions.

I know Dr G loves the laser treatments that many chiros offer, but are def not exclusive to chiros!!

[Garrett Smith]

IMO, you definitely want to see a "mixer", not a "straight" chiro...see here for more on this topic:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiropr...ctice_style s

It also depends on what kind of "thrust" you can deal with--do you like high velocity (lots of cavitations aka "cracking") or low velocity (much less force, less cavitations). The amount of cavitations has little to do with how much good an adjustment is going to do for you (other than maybe the placebo effect of hearing it).

Also, if you are going in for a very specific issue and it doesn't get noticeably better (note I don't mean perfect, I mean noticeably better) within 5 treatments, either find another chiro or maybe subluxations are not the issue.

[Derek Weaver]

Thanks for the replies and the link.

I'll get to looking today.

[Garrett Smith]

I just wouldn't feel complete without mentioning the nightshades in a chronic pain thread....

[Derek Weaver]

Good point. I often forget about the nightshades. I usually don't get too many of them in my diet, but I'll be sure to watch out for them and black box it for the next 30 days or so in accordance with (I hope) chiropractic work.

[Derek Weaver]

So in the last 12 or so days I have definitely noticed that sensitivity to nightshades may not be the issue so much as sugar. Not only do I break out, but my back gets real sore. Inflammation due to too many carbs I guess.

Between being out with the family for the parents anniversary and now Mother's Day in the last two days, the food intake has been sloppy at best. Back's lit up now.