5 ms·

>Turn on any radio or late night TV channel and get deluged with sheer bullshit. Better yet, look at your own insurance policy paying for the medical equivalent

>Turn on any radio or late night TV channel and get deluged with sheer bullshit. Better yet, look at your own insurance policy paying for the medical equivalent of scientology (chiropractic medicine). This is an unfair slander if you apply it to the entirety of chiropractic procedures. Sure, the people who think subluxations cause cancer and headaches deserve to be sued to high hell, but multidiscpline approaches by good PTs often involve some manual therapy of direct spinal manipulation.

owenmarshall 13y ago
>multidiscpline approaches by good PTs often involve some manual therapy of direct spinal manipulation. Indeed, but the differences between the practitioners are dramatic. Physical therapy uses evidence-based medicine as performed by highly trained medical practitioners. Chiropractors are woefully under qualified to perform spinal manipulation, and patient outcomes reflect this in significantly higher injury rates. Chiropractic is a field developed and persisted by charlatans.
- icelancer 13y ago
  I don't agree. I have a PT who uses chiropractic methods but I also have seen a chiropractor who does nothing but lower back manipulation and traction methods, both of which have evidence backing their methods to fix lower back mechanical issues. He is not a charlatan. It would be unfair to group him with the subluxation magicians.
  - sjwright 13y ago
    > It would be unfair to group him with the subluxation magicians. But then why does he call himself a subluxation magician? Is an alchemist still an alchemist if they're actually doing modern chemistry? The label chiropractic means something; the meaning doesn't change just because a few practitioners have quietly become closeted physiotherapists.
sjwright 13y ago
> > the medical equivalent of scientology (chiropractic medicine). An apt analogy. Scientology happens to include a few training exercises that might be considered valid or beneficial. But a small grain of validity isn't enough to overcome the metric ton of woo and indoctrination surrounding it. Anything of value can be assessed by researchers in the relevant qualified field, but those small grains aren't Scientology, and you wouldn't label them that. A chiropractor who performs physiotherapy is analogous to a scientologist who performs mainstream psychology. Or a homeopathist who slips full doses of actual drugs into their dilutions. > This is an unfair slander In my view, anyone providing services under the chiropractic banner can be legitimately called idiots, quacks, charlatans, and a danger to society. They are unqualified to perform anything. They deserve all the scorn and ridicule we can muster. I don't care if they focus on techniques consistent with physiotherapy; by using the chiropractic label, they are providing legitimacy to the ones who believe and practice woo woo. If you want to practice physiotherapy, we already have a label for that. It's called physiotherapy.
- icelancer 13y ago
  Why? There are plenty of chiropractors who perform manual therapy and spinal manipulation to fix mechanical low back issues - and there is a LOT of evidence behind these methods. They don't delve into the bullshit subluxation theories. That isn't "physiotherapy." That is quite clearly chiropractic medicine. And in that regard, it works. Just section them off into subluxation believers and people who work on lower backs. That's how I split them, considering I refer my clients to chiros all the time (and use them myself for my herniated lumbar discs).
  - sjwright 13y ago
    > That isn't "physiotherapy." That is quite clearly chiropractic medicine. And that's where we vehemently disagree. Look up the definition of chiropractics. Read Wikipedia. If you want to be associated with that garbage, use the name. If you don't, don't. > I refer my clients to chiros all the time Why not refer your clients to physiotherapists who can perform the same techniques, and have actual qualifications to do so? At the very least you know they're not at risk of being handled by a "subluxation believer". You'll also have the peace of mind that the practitioner is licensed and regulated by non-quacks, and held to a higher standard of ethics.

owenmarshall 13y ago

>multidiscpline approaches by good PTs often involve some manual therapy of direct spinal manipulation. Indeed, but the differences between the practitioners are dramatic. Physical therapy uses evidence-based medicine as performed by highly trained medical practitioners. Chiropractors are woefully under qualified to perform spinal manipulation, and patient outcomes reflect this in significantly higher injury rates. Chiropractic is a field developed and persisted by charlatans.

icelancer 13y ago
I don't agree. I have a PT who uses chiropractic methods but I also have seen a chiropractor who does nothing but lower back manipulation and traction methods, both of which have evidence backing their methods to fix lower back mechanical issues. He is not a charlatan. It would be unfair to group him with the subluxation magicians.
- sjwright 13y ago
  > It would be unfair to group him with the subluxation magicians. But then why does he call himself a subluxation magician? Is an alchemist still an alchemist if they're actually doing modern chemistry? The label chiropractic means something; the meaning doesn't change just because a few practitioners have quietly become closeted physiotherapists.

sjwright 13y ago

> > the medical equivalent of scientology (chiropractic medicine). An apt analogy. Scientology happens to include a few training exercises that might be considered valid or beneficial. But a small grain of validity isn't enough to overcome the metric ton of woo and indoctrination surrounding it. Anything of value can be assessed by researchers in the relevant qualified field, but those small grains aren't Scientology, and you wouldn't label them that. A chiropractor who performs physiotherapy is analogous to a scientologist who performs mainstream psychology. Or a homeopathist who slips full doses of actual drugs into their dilutions. > This is an unfair slander In my view, anyone providing services under the chiropractic banner can be legitimately called idiots, quacks, charlatans, and a danger to society. They are unqualified to perform anything. They deserve all the scorn and ridicule we can muster. I don't care if they focus on techniques consistent with physiotherapy; by using the chiropractic label, they are providing legitimacy to the ones who believe and practice woo woo. If you want to practice physiotherapy, we already have a label for that. It's called physiotherapy.

icelancer 13y ago
Why? There are plenty of chiropractors who perform manual therapy and spinal manipulation to fix mechanical low back issues - and there is a LOT of evidence behind these methods. They don't delve into the bullshit subluxation theories. That isn't "physiotherapy." That is quite clearly chiropractic medicine. And in that regard, it works. Just section them off into subluxation believers and people who work on lower backs. That's how I split them, considering I refer my clients to chiros all the time (and use them myself for my herniated lumbar discs).
- sjwright 13y ago
  > That isn't "physiotherapy." That is quite clearly chiropractic medicine. And that's where we vehemently disagree. Look up the definition of chiropractics. Read Wikipedia. If you want to be associated with that garbage, use the name. If you don't, don't. > I refer my clients to chiros all the time Why not refer your clients to physiotherapists who can perform the same techniques, and have actual qualifications to do so? At the very least you know they're not at risk of being handled by a "subluxation believer". You'll also have the peace of mind that the practitioner is licensed and regulated by non-quacks, and held to a higher standard of ethics.