Re: Answer to rtdinc2003 re chiropractic treatment

February 2, 2004

I really have difficulty seeing how you could

> adjust your spine (as in chiropractic ) using relaxation and

yoga ???

When I went for chiropractic adjustments, they usually had me lie on

my side with one leg flexed. The adjustment seemed to involve a

sudden forcing of the flexed leg to increase flexion and inward

rotation. This would produce a cracking sound followed by a loss of

stiffness in the low to mid back region.

I can duplicate this adjustment using the lying twist pose, which is

very similar to the adjustment, although it is done slowly. If my

low back is a bit " tight " , it will crack with the same sound and

feeling of relaxation as I experienced chiropractic adjustment.

I can also release a stiff upper spine while sitting by sucking in my

gut and relaxing the shoulders. I can crack and relax my middle

spine by lying on my back with knees bent to 60-degrees of flexion by

sucking in gut, relaxing shoulders and gently rotating femurs in and

out.

>For instance if

> there are structural abnormalities present (IE subluxation ,for

> example , that is , to simplify , healthy bones fixated out of

> position ) then your methodology of correcting this is

questionable .

Can bones be repositioned by focused forms of exercise? It would

seem that a common cause of the mal position of bones is due to

repetitive motions that are not healthy... like hunched over a

computer all day long. If repetitive bad motion causes problems,

would not repetitive good motions undo the problem?

> This is particularly so should these structural abnormalities have

> been present for a good while .

> Although you seem to be going along quite well with your yoga and

> rolfing it would be interesting to see how chiropractic treament

> would benefit you now post-surgery as opposed to pre-surgery as

> before .

My primary concerns are reduced ROM of the hips and pelvis, not with

the spine. Do you think chiropractic would increase the rate of hip

and pelvis ROM improvement? Are there specific adjustments designed

to improve hip and pelvis ROM. If so, I would be willing to give it

a go.

Certainly , any form of treatment you used while you had the

> bilateral hip problem , be it chiropractic, power meds , massage ,

> yoga , whatever would at best be palliative .

Agreed.

> It's my experience and indeed this is accepted that muscle spasm

and

> abnormality generally follow body structural fault . (EG) The

> antalgic gait associated with sciatic syndrome . The muscular

> component is the body's adption to the basic problem ; sciatic

nerve

> root irritation usually caused by spinal subluxation .

> So I have difficulty accepting your premis that the root cause

is ,as you put

> it , pathological muscle memory . This is not to say that path.

> muscle memory is not a factor in all this , however , I don't

believe

> it can be looked upon as a basic underlying cause .

I agree. The root cause was hip disease, however now that my hip

joints are perfect; the pathological muscle memory is the current

underlying cause of decreased ROM.

> Getting back to your original question , that is , chiropractic

> treatment being palliative only . Certainly there are those health

> problems treated by chiropractors that will only respond

> palliatively . However , depending on the problem , many patients

are

> only to happy to get relief even though it is temporary . Generally

> speaking though this is not the case .

I imagine it depends on the underlying problem. For hip disease and

recovery from surgery, I am still not convinced that chiropractic is

a useful therapy for increasing ROM, although your reference to

sciatic syndrome demonstrates that some related conditions would

benefit from adjustments.

Some patients , unfortunately

> go along with a health problem year after year and then finally

> decide to do something about it . This makes it tough to handle .

> Given reasonable circumstances those cases treatable by

chiropractic

> respond quickly and effectively

Patient compliance is a very big factor in all treatments. The

approach I am taking is 100% dependant on hard work week in week out,

therefore, broad success is limited. Most folks (not people who post

here) want to take a pill that will make everything better with no

effort.

> I hope this explains a few things . It's and extremly broad

> subject that I've attempted to explain in a few simple paragraphs .

Yes, thanks for your responses Dr. Fred. Best of luck with your new

hip.

February 2, 2004

I have had the best treatment for me from physiotherapists, not chiropractors.

I went to university with students in physio, and I saw how thorough their

studies were vis-a-vis treating the whole body not just the back. The emphasis

is always on the patient becoming self-sufficient, as opposed to having to

return time after time for yet another expensive treatment, as I've noticed with

chiropractry. I suffered for several years with an excruciating sciatic nerve

problem - pain radiating down leg to knee, having to sleep on a mattress on the

floor at university to get any relief. Finally a wise doctor suggested seeing a

physiotherapist, and after two months of faithfuuly seeing her and doing the

exercises, guess what?, the pain disappeared! After that, if I ever felt a

twinge, I just had to do my exercises - none of this repetitive treatment stuff.

Many times since, I've gone for physio, including for pre-op exercises for my

hip resurf, and I've always had wonderful results. They do not provide instant

relief, as many people want these days, but instant relief also spells quick

fix/quick return of problem to my mind, because the underlying problem is not

bieng addressed, only the symptom.

This past summer, my husband had a very scary experience with chiropractry,

as he had developed numbness in his hands and arms. He has always been one to

rush off to a chiropractor and that's what he did then too. After returning

time after time, with no relief over the space of 3 months (so much for instant

relief), the chiropractor finally said he couldn't do any more for him, and that

he had better see a doctor for xrays and get to the underlying problem!!! Of

course that's what I thought should have done in the first place, but hey, what

do I know. He was referred to an orthopaedic sports medicine specialist, who

discovered deterioration in the discs in his neck area. After 3 weeks in

hospital, taking, guess what, physiotherapy, he was all better. The

specialist, I might add, freaked when he heard about the neck manipulations done

by the chiropractor, his words being " Don't, for gawd's sake, let them touch

your neck - everything in your spinal column passes through there (we all know

this of course) and the damage that can be done is very very serious if not life

threatening. " . Now I know that doctors are not fond of chiropractors, at least

not here in Canada, but what the specialist said in this case made perfect sense

to me.

Btw, I wnet once to a chiropractor because my neck was painful, but the ghastly

cracking sound he made when he twisted my neck scared the crap out of me (I was

used to the gentle work of physio) and I thought that surely that sort of thing

being repeated couldn't be good for me. It gave me no relief, I went for

physio, and guess what, I got all better.

And that's my two cents worth.

Sharry

----- Original Message -----

From: rtdinc2003

To: surfacehippy hI can also release a stiff upper spine while

sitting by sucking in my