Are chiropractors MD's. ?

Wifey says a def no. She's in the insurance biz & has seen a large share of scammers... PT & acupuncture is another story in her opinion.
 
A chiropractor may have a doctorate, but is not a medical doctor. Not even close. Chiropractic is based on a false theory created by David Palmer, a grocer and "magnetic healer" in 1895. There seems to be little science involved except detailed spine anatomy, and part of the training and schooling is that medical doctors are bad and don't know anything. The standards for being accepted into a chiropractic school are much lower than for medical school, and once the student finishes chiropractic school, they hang out a shingle and start practicing. After getting a medical degree, a physician goes on to do 3-8 years of additional training, and has to pass multiple exams and continue to train for the rest of their careers. Imagine getting 10,000-20,000 hours of additional on the job training before full certification.

Like so many folks, chiropractors don't know what they don't know and believe their own B.S. Two decades ago I discovered a website called quackwatch. It is an interesting resource.

Here is are two articles that may address OPs issue directly:

Victims of Chiropractic | Quackwatch

Malpractice Is an Inevitable Result of Chiropractic Philosophy and Training (1979) | Quackwatch

Stay away.
 
I didn't hold any regard for chiropractors until I developed a herniated disk in my neck. I went to PCP, urgent care and ER with it and didn't get anything other than bills. I finally went to a chiropractor and he made it where I could survive. I'll always have issues with it but at least I can live with it now.
 
I’ve gone to a few different chiropractors over the years with different levels of success. In my experience they can be like the dentist thread on here. It seems the ones I’ve gone to in strip shopping centers and advertise $20 adjustments are just trying to sign you up for ongoing “treatment” that works great for them. The two I’ve gone to in office parks treat you once or twice and say come back once a year for tuneup or sooner if it still bothers you. They both have been up front if it’s something they can’t help where the strip center ones right off the bat said I need to see you 3x week for 4-5 weeks to get started. If they say that, run.,
 
While I'm no fan of chiropractors, I am not remotely a fan of painting all of anyone with a broad brush. I'm sure there are some that help some patients. Me, I'd probably find a good masseuse at a nice spa and BTD.

And for anyone who has been to a conventional MD with back pain issues, you know your chances of relief there are also a roll of the dice. We've all read stories of folks who had spinal surgeries and are no better off (some are of course!). For people with sciatica and arthritic issues, no surgery will help. Meds or therapy.

The Spine/Back/Neck MD at my local Ortho practice told me that lifting weights is a bad idea, whereas everyone else in the medical community is aligned that is probably the best exercise for women.
 
disneysteve said:
Is this a serious question? Are you really going to trust someone who admitted to have never heard of the disease, googled it, and now claims to be able to cure you for the low low price of $150 per visit? Talk about a scam. This is the poster child for it.

To be clear, I am not opposed to chiropractic care. I’ve seen one myself many times as has my wife and my mother. But you need to choose carefully when selecting one. Unfortunately many of them are extremely unethical.
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+100. You might as well Google it yourself and see if you can treat it yourself.
 
Been seeing chiropractors for almost 60 years. They helped tremendously. Last year I was diagnosed with arthritis in my L4, L5. Ortho guy wanted to give me shots.

Chiro put me on a decompression table instead, twice a month. A 100% improvement. They're not for everything, but for some things incredibly helpful. The ones I've worked with will tell you if something is out of their wheelhouse.

I like a hybrid approach of acupuncture, chiropractor, massage, electro stim, stretch therapy and traditional western medicine.

FWIW, Medicare pays for unlimited chiropractor visits, but even if not, most charge about $50 a visit
 
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Interesting experiences. Pretty much every doc (MD) I've had always starts me out with a PT regimen first before we even talk about more serious steps.

Cheers.
 
I don't think comparing chiropractors to medical doctors is fair. They deal with different issues and, in my experience, will tell when you need to see an MD.

Dentists, massage therapists, acupuncturists and others like meditation therapists are also not MDs but a lot depends on what ails you. The fact that one is not an MD shouldn't discourage you from seeking effective help from an appropriate avenue.

I'd venture that for every chiropractor horror story, there's one about MDs gone astray. My own brother is in a wheelchair because his MD misdiagnosed.

When I was a kid, chiropractors weren't allowed in Massachusetts. We'd have to trek up to New Hampshire to see one. This wasn't because of their qualifications but was the result of the medical lobby trying to protect their piece of the pie.
 
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Aerides said:
The Spine/Back/Neck MD at my local Ortho practice told me that lifting weights is a bad idea, whereas everyone else in the medical community is aligned that is probably the best exercise for women.
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Wow. The doctor believes in no lifting at all? Interesting.
 
Chuckanut said:
Has anybody read the book Explain Pain? Apparently there is a psychological side of chronic pain that can trick our brains into feeling more pain than we have to.


Do you know the author? Am interested, I see a number of books w/this title by David Butler, not sure if it's the same book? Thanks.
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RetiredHappy said:
I am glad a chiropractor worked for you. For me, I wouldn't let a chiropractor touch me. Not even with a ten-foot pole. If I were you, I will continue to see your real doctor, i.e. a rheumatologist.
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+1
I consider Chiro voodoo. How come you must see them 10-20 times and they never cure you. There is a good chance your body did the job. It can get worse; one bad alignment, and you're toast.
Instead, I have used the same acupuncture guy for decades. In one treatment he solved all my aches.
A couple of years ago I checked the requirements to be accepted to a Chiro university; they are much lower than real MDs.
 
Do you know the author? Am interested, I see a number of books w/this title by David Butler, not sure if it's the same book? Thanks.
Click to expand...
Yes, the author is Butler.

I read about the psychology of back pain about 5 years ago in another book by a back specialist. This should not be surprising. I think most of us have had the experience of having some sort of ache or pain, getting distracted by something interesting or fun, and 20 minutes later the pain seems to have faded away.
 
EastWest Gal said:
A chiropractor may have a doctorate, but is not a medical doctor. Not even close. Chiropractic is based on a false theory created by David Palmer, a grocer and "magnetic healer" in 1895. There seems to be little science involved except detailed spine anatomy, and part of the training and schooling is that medical doctors are bad and don't know anything. The standards for being accepted into a chiropractic school are much lower than for medical school, and once the student finishes chiropractic school, they hang out a shingle and start practicing. After getting a medical degree, a physician goes on to do 3-8 years of additional training, and has to pass multiple exams and continue to train for the rest of their careers. Imagine getting 10,000-20,000 hours of additional on the job training before full certification.

Like so many folks, chiropractors don't know what they don't know and believe their own B.S. Two decades ago I discovered a website called quackwatch. It is an interesting resource.

Here is are two articles that may address OPs issue directly:

Victims of Chiropractic | Quackwatch

Malpractice Is an Inevitable Result of Chiropractic Philosophy and Training (1979) | Quackwatch

Stay away.
Click to expand...
Totally agree - whatever chiropractors call a "doctorate" is nothing similar at all to the fields of study for an MD or a DO. The years and scope of training is so much less for chiropractors.

If you need 'physical manipulation' fine, go for it. But if you need (and who defines need?) anything else go to someone with training in those areas. A Doctor of Osteopathy (DO) is a great combination of MD and chiropractor with some scientific knowledge to back up what they are doing.
 
This reminds me of a court case my newspaper covered years ago involving a chiropractor. It made Chuck Shepherd's "News of the Weird" column, from which I quote:

Dr. John Schuett, 36, was charged with battery in Waukesha, Wisconsin, for allegedly having grabbed a woman in his office, putting his mouth over her right eye, sucking on it, stabbing her in the neck with an acupuncture needle, and reading aloud from the Bible.

One of my colleagues nicknamed the defendant "the eye-sucking back-cracker."
 
Sort of a funny story from a few years back: SIL went to the chiro because she had some back pain. Normally after treatment the patients exit through the waiting room. After her treatment she was in excruciating pain and all doubled over. The helpful office staff escorted her out through the back employee entrance so she wouldn't have to walk out in front of the people in the waiting room.:oops:
 
Chiropractors and not medical doctors and do not substitute for same. There is a very wide range in the knowledge and skill set in this profession. The same is true however, for most professions - including MDs.

I was treated by a very skilled chiropractor when I was a child / teen / young adult. I found out later that since he was treating my parents, he didn't charge them for me. He relieved neck spasms which had bothered me for years, and helped me with back and hip pain as well. I would see him two or three times, and then not need to go again until the next time I did something stupid. He could look at me and know what was wrong. I never found anyone nearly as good.

I am going to a chiropractor currently. He mitigates my lower back pain, but I can't say he relieves my hip pain. (I did go for physical therapy for my hips which I found useful). I also do home exercises which he gave me. He did write a prescription for an MRI of my lumber spine which was covered by insurance. Last year he took the reduced rate of my insurance after I used up my allocation of the 100% payable sessions.
 
MarieIG said:
Chiropractors and not medical doctors and do not substitute for same. There is a very wide range in the knowledge and skill set in this profession. The same is true however, for most professions - including MDs.

I was treated by a very skilled chiropractor when I was a child / teen / young adult. I found out later that since he was treating my parents, he didn't charge them for me. He relieved neck spasms which had bothered me for years, and helped me with back and hip pain as well. I would see him two or three times, and then not need to go again until the next time I did something stupid. He could look at me and know what was wrong. I never found anyone nearly as good.

I am going to a chiropractor currently. He mitigates my lower back pain, but I can't say he relieves my hip pain. (I did go for physical therapy for my hips which I found useful). I also do home exercises which he gave me. He did write a prescription for an MRI of my lumber spine which was covered by insurance. Last year he took the reduced rate of my insurance after I used up my allocation of the 100% payable sessions.
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My hip pain was relieved with new hips. Wore them out long distance running for a long time. Hip surgery is quite good these days and my PT consisted of walking the neighborhood the day after surgery. Driving was allowed after 10 days, although I shorted that. Look up anterior procedure.
 
EastWest Gal said:
A chiropractor may have a doctorate, but is not a medical doctor. Not even close. Chiropractic is based on a false theory created by David Palmer, a grocer and "magnetic healer" in 1895. There seems to be little science involved except detailed spine anatomy, and part of the training and schooling is that medical doctors are bad and don't know anything. The standards for being accepted into a chiropractic school are much lower than for medical school, and once the student finishes chiropractic school, they hang out a shingle and start practicing. After getting a medical degree, a physician goes on to do 3-8 years of additional training, and has to pass multiple exams and continue to train for the rest of their careers. Imagine getting 10,000-20,000 hours of additional on the job training before full certification.
Click to expand...
This reminded me of the beginning of a book I once read, (The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History By John M. Barry), where the author discusses in great detail the state of medicine in the mid-19th century in America where anyone could hang an MD shingle and how that all changed with start of the John Hopkins Hospital & Medical School around ~1880. Up until then, medicine in America was unscientific, unregulated, and primitive compared to what was going on in Europe.
 
So here's a question: If you were going to see a physical therapist and learned that she had a doctorate in PT, (like mine is) would you ask if she was a MD?

You know that the schooling, training and depth of knowledge required is nowhere equal to that of an MD. Not by a long shot.

Would you change your mind about seeing her? Would you be concerned knowing she wasn't a MD?
Would your mind say that she is not a "real" doctor?
Would you deride her for claiming to be a doctor?

In many ways, a chiropractor is pretty much a physical therapist with a doctorate and a lot more training. Frankly I don't see much difference. Dentists and eye doctors are doctors but I wouldn't want them removing my appendix.

I've even had physical therapists perform the same adjustments that my chiropractor does.
 
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Aerides said:
...For people with sciatica and arthritic issues, no surgery will help.
Click to expand...
Just to clarify, if you suffer from sciatica, surgery can indeed help! After two years of suffering with sciatica in my late 20s and seeing just about every kind of doctor including a chiropractor, I was able to see a neurosurgeon who had developed an early microscopic technique for back surgery on ruptured disc's. In those days (early 80s) the standard treatment left a huge scar and typically involved fusion as well. This new microsurgery technique worked wonderfully for me. Now, of course, microsurgery is the standard of care, and I'm so glad I was able to have it done by this pioneering surgeon. The worst part of the surgery was the preop mylogram which was used to detail the ruptured disc and caused me excruciating headaches for a week or two. I guess it's been superseded by MRI.
 
rk911 said:
Correct. I'm seeing one this week to see if he can help with pain caused by a pinched nerve. The DC is doctorate level degree equivilent to an MD.
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Why not come back here afterwards and tell us how you're doing.
 
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