Why I do believe Chiropractic is effective

[magical thyme]

Sorry, but like the other poster, this is anecdotal. And yes, there are a ton of quacks out there. I think it would be smarter to follow the veterinary model for chiropractic, which is to require a vet license to practice at least in the 2 states where I've lived and used them.

My dog injured his neck, with severe, severe pain. I ended up spending the night on the floor with him to keep a heating pad on his neck, while he cried until he finally slumped against the wall and dozed. Emergency call to vet had determined not likely fractured and in visit the next day she prescribed metacam and 10 days rest. He improved but wasn't quite the same as before. A couple months later, started having pain in the shoulder area. More metacam, more rest. Improved, but not the same as before the shoulder pain appeared. Started having pain in the lumbar region, and then diarrhea. Different vet this time. X-rays showed the lumbar vertebrae looking very close at the top and far apart at the bottom. New vet said herniated discs, which some day could leave him paralyzed without surgery. More metacam, but the diarrhea immediately got worse...to the point that it looked like vomit coming out. I was feeding him pounds and pounds of boiled rice and chicken, with him carrying his bowl around begging for more. For 4 days, he was starving in front of me while the vet and I played phone tag. I had stopped the metacam, which can cause diarrhea, but it continued.

So I spent a night researching canine anatomy and alternative treatments for herniated discs. I had just finished pre-med level anatomy and physiology for humans (with a 99.78 average) and based on what I saw in Cornell's vet site, and my general understanding of anatomy, I suspected that 1. the current issue and the shoulder issue were both follow on to the original injury. And that 2. inflammation and/or malalignment in the lumbar region was causing pressure on the nerve bundles that feed the peristaltic contractions of the small intestine. And that was causing muscle spasms which in turn were forcing the chyme through the small intestine before his body could absorb any nutrients from it.

The next day on the phone I called every major animal hospital within a day's drive. A local dog hospital sent me to a chiropractic vet about 1.5 hours away. I called, made an emergency appoint, picked up my dog's x-rays that evening. Looking closely at the x-rays, I could see that in 2 of them his vertebrae looked normal. From the 3rd angle, looking very closely, I saw that they were out of alignment. Next day at the chiro vet, we found my dog's weight had dropped from 80+ pounds to 72 pounds. That was in just 4 days. The chiropractic vet examined the x-rays and then worked on him. She found subluxations at C3-C4, a couple in the T area, and at L-4 through L7.

That night, the pain was gone. The diarrhea also stopped. He required a couple re-treatments to confirm the treatment. After that, I went back annually for a few years to make sure he was still ok. He hasn't been back in a couple years now. It took a long time, but his weight is back to 85 pounds, where it belongs.

The vet that saved Jake's life studied chiropractic at that quack school, Tufts University Veterinary School.

It's unfortunate that so many quacks are out there, thanks to lack of regulation. I've seen them, too. Requiring licensing would go a long way to ending that.

[OneGrassRoot]

1. K&R n/t

[freshwest]

2. Glad your friend got help. There are horse chiropractors, too. I've seen them work.

[Rhiannon12866]

9. I took my dog to an equine chiropractor

My beloved cocker spaniel was 17 and was having trouble getting around. This vet worked with horses, but saw dogs two days a week. That helped, but what really made the difference was acupuncture. My local vet had sent me to this vet for my sick cat and he uses both western and eastern medicine. I'd needed to hold my dog up when I took him outside, but after a few acupuncture sessions, he walked just fine for the rest of his life. And it was also noninvasive.

[freshwest]

10. I find acupuncture very helpful.

[Voice for Peace]

3. There are quacks in every field of medicine -- yours is a great story

especially since it's about a dog

Even well respected conventional specialists can be quacks.. I have
met several, and it's totally disturbed my trust in the whole
medical establishment. I've also met eccentric alternative quacks
who cured me or helped with one thing and another.

[Egalitarian Thug]

4. That's the only problem I have with Chiropractors. Their "association" actively resists

any attempts at cleaning up their membership. I've learned that I was just incredibly lucky to have found a good one on the first try. In the too many years since then I've found that the best thing I can say about the majority of them is that they are incompetent.

But a good one can change your life.

[mzteris]

5. it was all in your dog's head.

He just imagined he was being helped. Just a placebo. Nothing to see here. Move along. . .

[lynne]

6. I had a chiropractor help me when my other doctor couldn't -

- I was pregnant and hurt my ankle and it was really painful and swollen. Went to my orthopedist and he said he couldn't really treat me as he couldn't xray. He advised me to keep it up, put ice on it, and wrap it and that he would xray after the baby was born if they problem wasn't gone.

About three weeks later I was in a chiropractor's office as my friend worked there. I wasn't there as a patient. The Dr. asked what was wrong with my ankle as it was wrapped. Told him my story and he asked to look at it. I said "It's not my back!" and he said that chiropractor's are also trained in other parts of the body.

He examined me and asked if I could tolerate a few seconds of pain. Told him I sure hoped so as I was getting ready to give birth! He explained that my muscles and ligaments had become more elastic in preparation for childbirth and that my ankle was slightly out of socket. I held onto the table - he pulled my foot real quick - I heard what sounded like a gunshot - and my ankle immediately felt better. He told me to put it up, ice it, etc.

Within 24 hours the swelling was gone.

So, yes, I know that a well trained chiropractor can truly help people. Sometimes they can help when conventional medicine can't.

[Logical]

7. Your dog???

[magical thyme]

11. yes, my dog. The dog vet trained in canine and equine chiropractic

at Tufts University Veterinary School in Massachusetts. She got her veterinary training at a different university, and also trained in accupuncture for dogs at a 3rd university veterinary school.

[pansypoo53219]

8. my chiro fixed my misaligned lower spine from a fall, and

also fixed my scoliosis. BUT I AM NOT TALLER! GRR!

[Archae]

12. If chiropracters are so "understanding..."

Why is it when they have their yearly convention, just about all the seminars are on selling techniques?

Good article here too.

http://www.skepdic.com/chiro.html

[magical thyme]

14. I have no idea what you mean. I never wrote anything about the chiro veterinarian being "understandi

"understanding." Why are you putting words in my post that are not there?

What I wrote is that the licensed veterinarian that also trained in chiropractic fixed my dog's back in one treatment. Two veterinarians that practice *only* traditional veterinary medicine failed to fix my dog, and the second one nearly killed him (I haven't posted the detail here, but she misdiagnosed, prescribed improperly, and then responded inappropriately to my frantic calls when he was spirally down fast.)

And that the licensed veterinarian that fixed my dog's back got her training a Tufts University Veterinary School in Massachusetts. Tufts is a good, traditional veterinary school. I've worked with a number of vets that graduated there over the years.

I don't know anything about chiropractic's "yearly convention." The for-profit skeptic website page you link to says nothing about chiropractic conventions. I also didn't notice anything there about authorship or sourcing for their claims, although I didn't waste a lot of time over there.

[msanthrope]

13. Note...your chiropractor worked on your dog, on the injury.

Didn't sell you supplements, light candles, quote you some spiritual BS, etc.

It's the same with human chiropractors....it all depends on the ratio of treatment to woo they are selling.

[magical thyme]

15. the chiropractor is a veterinarian. Note this thread is about chiropractic being effective

when it's a real chiropractor, not a quack. It's not about supplements, candles, spiritual BS, or woo.

The veterinary chiropracter did suggest supplements that she's seen good results with, in terms of tissue regeneration for my dog's hips (the x-rays turned up mild-moderate hip dysplasia) and she discussed the raw food diet (which she feeds her dogs). I didn't buy, nor was there any pressure. They simply were options.

[msanthrope]

16. I am agreeing with you...and noting the inverse proportion

of effectiveness and woo when it comes to chiropractors.

[magical thyme]

17. I would hazard that a significant portion of the people who visit the emergency room

at the hospital where I work as a lab tech would benefit far more from sincere woo than lab tests and western technological medicine.

I cannot tell you how many people come in there trying to fill their empty hearts, spirits and minds by stuffing themselves with junk food, booze, drugs, and junk pseudo-ideas from junk teevee and junk radio. I find them extremely annoying.