Whiplash, Physio Vs Chiropractor?

Ignoring that some chirporactors claim to be able to cure the flu and keeping the debate limited to the ones who just deal with back injuries.

Which is going to solve my current overly painfull whiplash? I think I managed to scorpion kick myslef on holliday despite wearing a spine protector and unlike my broken arm it’s taking it’s time getting better 🙁

I’ve had whiplash before and don’t fancy another 2 years of this!

medical professional, versus spine wizard.

let me think…

LOL @ alfabus – he’s right though
*waits for the resident driving instruction / zoo fighting / physioterrorist expert to arrive.

But chiropractors are doctors don’t you know… (having had one introduce himself to me as “Dr so-and-so….”!!)

DrP

😉

I’ve used both for back issues but wouldn’t go near a chiropractor now. Try and get reccomendations for a physio, like all tradesmen they vary in style, etc

medical professional, versus spine wizard.

let me think…

Therein lies the problem, for all the naysaying the chiropractor has spent as long at uni studying the back as the physio’s spent doing the whole body. Which you’d imagine makes them at least as competent in spinal stuff as the physio……..

I’ve used both for back issues but wouldn’t go near a chiropractor now. Try and get reccomendations for a physio, like all tradesmen they vary in style, etc

You see, my mum would say the opposite, after years of back pain and physio, a few chiropractor appointments and she’d now in the gym more than I am! It’s frankly embarresing!

The thing about physo’s is they actually know what they are doing , chiropractor’s are much more faith based. As in I believe wrenching your back a bit more is just what you need . Unlike homeopathy chiropractors have a proven risk of making things worse .

I would never use a chiropractor again. If you wnat manipulation use a osteopath – generally a gentler solution.

Get a proper diagnosis from your doctor first and get their opinion on manipulation

When I had whiplash the hospital doctor told me he could refer me to either physio or a chiropracter but in his experience a chiropracter had more success with these sorts of injuries.

Chiropracter worked great for me.

Most of what my chiro does is just gentle manipulation and deep tissue massage, with only a couple of neck clicks per session. Maybe she just has a different style to all these back-breaking chiros most people seem to imagine, she certainly knows what’s she’s talking about as well.
Although I do understand the point that a bad chiro will do you a lot more harm than a bad physio…

After suffering some period of back pain, I was persuaded to visit a Chiropractor. Due to my judgement being clouded by pain, I put my prejudice to one side and agreed. And to be fair, by clicking and manipulating my back, I did get some relief. But, after some continued pain, I then went to a conventional back specialist who revealed through the magic of X-ray, that I’d broken my back. I didn’t go back to the Chiropractor.

As an osteopath I would advise seeking a local recommendation, a good practitioner from any of the three should be able to help, I would be very wary of anyone who tries to sign you up for a lengthy program of treatment, it is nigh on impossible to determine how an individual will respond and how long treatment will take.

I would never use a chiropractor again.

I thought you’d know better than to ever try them.

Chiropractors stand in my gym foyer and offer free spine check ups to anyone who’s willing. The opening line is usually something like” excuse me sir have you ever had an episode of back pain?”
As expected the “clinical examination” finds something wrong with everybody and they recommend some sort of treatment to prevent them developing a disabling spinal ailment.
Its a business model and practice that no other health professional is allowed to perform.

Patients show me xrays of their spine with all kinds of nonsensical lines and angles on them drawn by chiros, which apparently suggest that things are out of alignment. They then follow on with more xrays which they hav been told shows their spine back in alignment.
Its a complete hoax. All of them are completely normal.

I feel fairly strongly about this as you can probably gather mainly because I don’t think its right to lie to patients or scare them into needing your business.

To the OP go and see a physio.
If you’re not happy with one don’t banish the entire professsion find another. There are some very good ones out there.

Oh and fourbanger that is not a little embarrassing for the practitioner concerned, but I’ve heard a lot more stories of a and e missing fractures.

Hugor that is a problem that seems to plague the chiropractic world, there are a lot of decent chiros but there at a few un ethical practices too. I am aware of one which was investigated by the governing body, complaints not upheld due to most of the evidence not being allowed. Lawyered.
It is going to be a huge problem if the GCC don’t sort out the cowboys.

chiropractor has spent as long at uni

you may wish to look at where they get their qualifications.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chiropractic_schools

http://www.patient.co.uk/health/Whiplash-Neck-Sprains.htm

I would instantly rule out manipulation for anyone with whiplash due to it being unsafe and potentialy deadly.

you may wish to look at where they get their qualifications.

From your link;

in Switzerland, Chiropractic is so fully integrated into the health care system that the existence of a separate accrediting agency is thus obviated. The course is taught in University, on the same basis as human medicine.

Surely if anyone’s going to know about back injuries it’d be a nation of skiers!

Unless you were infering that they were a load of old poly’s, in which cae you might like to look at the league tables for physio courses, I know for a fact that Leed’s Met comes quite high on the list.

Well it’s not my neck, last timeit was arround my kidneys, this time it’s my coxix(sp?)

I agree up to a point, it sounds more like a compression type injury than a proper whiplash though. There I’d much more to treatment than clicking though. a chap I saw in the simmer had an off in the alps, broken neck, ribs collapsed lung etc, no clicking/manipulation but he responded extremely well to massage and gentle inhibition and mobilisation with exercise advice.

Edit: too slow typing on phone! In light of coccyx injury then disregard what I just typed. My earlier advice stands, look for a local recommendation.

coxix(sp?)

coccyx

From personal experience, I would recommend Physio every time.

Four years ago, I woke one morning sufferring with intense/acute neck and shoulder pain that also continued down my right arm and most of my fingers on right hand numb.

A chiro did some manipulation claiming it was a Thoracic vertabrae that was out of alignment and made the pain much much worse, an Osteopath looked and didnt want to touch me and told me to get an MRI through my GP and the third opinion was from a Physio who thought I had prolapsed a cervical disc.

The MRI showed two prolapsed discs in C6 & C7. Physio treatment thereafter was both reassuring and practical together with instruction for exercises. They seem to have a more holistic approach.

I’m now back to building green oak frames. And sometimes riding my bike 😀

tinas what you playing at ..are we in Switzerland?

If you folow wiki links they define it thus

It is generally categorized as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).[2] Although chiropractors have many attributes of primary care providers, chiropractic has more of the attributes of a medical specialty like dentistry or podiatry.[3]

The main chiropractic treatment technique involves manual therapy, including manipulation of the spine, other joints, and soft tissues; treatment also includes exercises and health and lifestyle counseling.[4] Traditional chiropractic assumes that a vertebral subluxation interferes with the body’s innate intelligence,[5] a vitalistic notion ridiculed by the scientific and healthcare communities.[6] A large number of chiropractors want to separate themselves from the traditional vitalistic concept of innate intelligence.[7]

D.D. Palmer founded chiropractic in the 1890s, and his son B.J. Palmer helped to expand it in the early 20th century.[8] It has two main groups: “straights”, now the minority, emphasize vitalism, innate intelligence and spinal adjustments, and consider vertebral subluxations to be the cause of all disease; “mixers”, the majority, are more open to mainstream views and conventional medical techniques, such as exercise, massage, and ice therapy.[7]

I think you like it becaue your aura is a bluey yellow and it empowers your shakras making you innate intelligence flow or something

I bet I can find somewhere teach medicine alongside homeopathy /alternative forms in say China for example.

I would go to a chiropractor if they were called Spine Wizards.

Whilst you lot are on here – if I sleep for more than 8 hours I wake with pain in the muscles on either side of my spine between the lowest rib on my back and my hip, irrespective of the bed I’m in.

Physio for this too? GP?

Molgrips, just set your alarm earlier.

And stretch.

sleep for less sthan 8 hours prevention is better than cure 😉

To be honest, I’m not sure what a physio would be able to do in the case of a coccyx injury. I also cant picture anyone ever getting a whiplash injury to their coccyx either. Not saying that you’re wrong, just that i cant picture it.

hugor – there is a lot of stuff about the human body that is not adequately explained by traditional western medicine. Back pain is one of the issues.

To be honest, I’m not sure what a physio would be able to do in the case of a coccyx injury. I also cant picture anyone ever getting a whiplash injury to their coccyx either. Not saying that you’re wrong, just that i cant picture it.

Neither can I, but it ‘effin hurts. For pedantry purposes, replace all mentions of whiplash with ‘some kind of back injury resulting from crashing’.

To be honest, I’d want to see you point to the site of pain before I accepted your description, in my experience even peoples who can spell coccyx still have a pretty lose idea of where it actually is.

IF it is a coccyx sprain thn it’ll sort itself out in a couple of weeks. I have had a similar injury a couple of times and whilst it is incredibly sore at the time it heals pretty quickly. My tip is to take your time when sitting down.

y tip is to take your time cushion when sitting down.

Ftfy 😉

Pile Cushion.

IF it is a coccyx sprain thn it’ll sort itself out in a couple of weeks. I have had a similar injury a couple of times and whilst it is incredibly sore at the time it heals pretty quickly. My tip is to take your time when sitting down.

My personal experience is it won’t. I landed coccyx first on the front of my seat falling off some boardwalk about 5 years ago now and though it’s much better it’s still slightly uncomfortable. I saw a couple of physios (both friends), and both said there’s not really anything that can be done, my own research seemed to back this up.

I would never use a chiropractor again. If you want manipulation use a osteopath – generally a gentler solution.

Osteopaths generally use indirect manipulations whereas Chiros tend to be more direct, and hence scary.

Chiros also seem to try to get you into a lifetime course of corrective treatment.

All the osteos I have been to have been good – the one I see irregularly (normally only after a bad crash…) really earns his money as he gives you a deep massage before any manipulation.

By contrast the one ‘specialist’ physio I went to was pretty useless and didn’t do anything to fix my shoulder problems.

Had a similar sounding crash as Gribs and my experience has been the same, although the tenderness clears up pretty fast it’s still uncomfortable for me to be sat on a chair that puts pressure on my coccyx (Argos actually sell a coccyx cushion which I use at work although people take the piss that I must have piles :p ).

I did read somewhere that if it fractures and fuses slightly when it heals it loses flexibility which causes the permanent annoying pain when sat down (same article did mention you can get it re-fractured and set again but I didn’t fancy that idea and not even sure if it’s offered as a treatment option in this country).

Oh and my chiro has never mentioned auras, potions or goblins…

Didn’t land on my coccyx (cornering, front wheel washed out and I went OTB) which was why I jumped to the whiplash conclusion as my legs must have been thrown about a bit, rather than impacting anything.

Just seen a ciropractor advertising on groupon, not a chance of going to one now as that pretty much gives away their business model!

I think chiropractors are definitely something else than wannabe-hippies-spiritual healers… From what I’ve heard and read it actually makes sense. The fact that they’re not officially recognized doesn’t mean a lot to me.
Speaking of which, do you know any good chiropractor in the Worcester area? Or some sort of websites like this that could provide a list of local practitioners…?

Everyone’s entitled to an opinion. Even if it’s misguided.