Does anyone know of...................

[Raineyrocks]

A really good, not too expensive, chiropractor near Plymouth?

I've heard that if you go to a chiropractor that really doesn't know what they're doing you can end up paralyzed and although I don't mind sitting at the computer for a few hours a day I'd like to be able to get up if I want to.

My freaking back has been killing me in the morning.  I don't think I have pneumonia but damn I've never been in so much pain!  It's just for the first couple of hours after waking up.

Plus I'd like to get my whole families spines checked out because of the car accident we were in a few years ago.

[Tom Sawyer]

Could be you need a new mattress and box springs. They start to sag over time and your spine is out of alignment as you sleep. We got a new bed and we both feel much better. I also usually sleep with a pillow between my knees which helps also.

[Braddogg]

Be really careful when picking out a chiropractor.  I'd recommend seeing a physical therapist, someone who went to medical school.  But if you've got your heart set on a chiropractor, be sure to ask him if he believes in subluxations.  If he does, ruuuuuuuuuun!  I had back and knee problems, and went to see a chiropractor.  He was pretty helpful as a back-cracker.  But eventually, he started getting nutty on me with the subluxation stuff.

[Raineyrocks]

Could be you need a new mattress and box springs. They start to sag over time and your spine is out of alignment as you sleep. We got a new bed and we both feel much better. I also usually sleep with a pillow between my knees which helps also.

We just bought the mattress a couple of years ago.  The other one we had was ancient and the spring coils were popping out.  I have a feeling it may be my lungs because that's where my back hurts.  I still haven't quit smoking like I was supposed to a few months ago but now I have 6 packs left and I'm going to do it this time.
The weird thing is though if it were my lungs why does my back feel better a couple hours after I've been up?  Which would fit with your new mattress advice.  I'm going to sleep on the couch tonight and see if that makes a difference.  Maybe we bought a crappy mattress?

Thanks!

[Raineyrocks]

Be really careful when picking out a chiropractor.  I'd recommend seeing a physical therapist, someone who went to medical school.  But if you've got your heart set on a chiropractor, be sure to ask him if he believes in subluxations.  If he does, ruuuuuuuuuun!  I had back and knee problems, and went to see a chiropractor.  He was pretty helpful as a back-cracker.  But eventually, he started getting nutty on me with the subluxation stuff.

Oh my gosh, I'm so glad you told me that!  After the car accident I was looking up back info and I ran across a few sites stating that subluxation stuff was the only thing that would help a car accident victim.
What kind of subluxation stuff did he do to you?

Thanks too!

[ArcRiley]

Subluxation isn't a set of "practices", rather a belief of the results of misalignment.

Chiropractors adjust your spine.  That's what they do.  Subluxation is the belief that misaligned spines cause health problems elsewhere in your body by pinching or irritating nerves.  It seems fairly logical to me and seems to work, but if you don't believe this to be true you're still going to a chiropractor to get your spine worked on.

It would be like saying "don't go to that athletic trainer, he believes the reason I keep getting headaches is I'm not doing enough aerobic exercise".

[Braddogg]

Subluxation isn't a set of "practices", rather a belief of the results of misalignment.

Chiropractors adjust your spine.  That's what they do.  Subluxation is the belief that misaligned spines cause health problems elsewhere in your body by pinching or irritating nerves.  It seems fairly logical to me and seems to work, but if you don't believe this to be true you're still going to a chiropractor to get your spine worked on.

It would be like saying "don't go to that athletic trainer, he believes the reason I keep getting headaches is I'm not doing enough aerobic exercise".

The founder of chiropractic claimed to have cured someone's deafness by manipulating their back.  Current uses for chiropractic include treating childhood asthma and (in my case) gallstones.  Subluxation theory is in direct opposition to the germ theory of medicine -- the single most important and influential theory of medicine.  It holds that ALL illness is a result of "subluxations," interferences with the flow of "Innate Intelligence," which (depending on what chiropractor you ask) either does or does not appear on x-rays.

There is no evidence for subluxation theory.  None.  It's total horse hooey.  There is evidence for the interconnectedness of the muscular-skeletal system, which is why I would consider a back manipulation for knee pain, but there is no evidence that pinched nerves cause a disturbance in the flow of an invisible life energy and cause all illness.  There is evidence that using chiropractic for your neck leads to an increased risk of stroke.

If obstructions in Innate Intelligence really do cause all illness, and Innate Intelligence flows through the spine, then people with severed spinal cords should just get every disease imaginable!  And yet . . . they don't.  The evidence is overwhelmingly against subluxation theory.

What I'm saying is more like, "Don't go to that shaman, he believes the reason I keep getting headaches is that there's a little elephant stomping around in there, and the only way to get it to stop is to put a mouse in my ear and scare the elephant away."

[KBCraig]

I don't lump chiropractors all into one pile. Many are a combination of quackery, hucksterism, and insurance fraud. But there are some out there who still keep to the basics of un-pinching nerves and lining up the joints the way they're supposed to be aligned.

My first (and only) chiropractor is a good old-fashioned back cracker. His DC diploma is dated 1949. He works alone: no receptionist, no assistant, no x-ray tech. He answers his own phone, and schedules appointments every 15 minutes. No insurance: $10 per visit, cash or check.

Yep: ten bucks per visit. 

I was skeptical. During her second pregnancy, my then-wife had horrible sciatic pain. The MD's solution was bed rest; that just wasn't an option with a 4 year old at home. A friend suggested "Doctor Roy" McCormick.

We went, and he was amazing. He was gentle and soothing, as he should be with a scared expectant mother in pain. Despite his "every 15 minutes" scheduling, he spent at least 45 minutes with her. Told her to come back in a week, and after the second visit told her not to worry about coming back unless she had more problems. She didn't.

Fast forward a couple of years. I woke up with one of those horrible neck cricks. You know, the kind that makes you walk around ear-to-shoulder like Quasimodo, where you have to turn you entire body to face someone who speaks to you. Three days of heating pads, ibuprofen, and pulsating shower massage didn't help. I called Dr. Roy for an appointment.

He never asked what the problem was. When I got on the table, he felt down my spine and told me where I hurt. And he was exactly right. He cracked everything from skull to coccyx, collected his ten-spot, and told me to expect some soreness for a day or two, and call if it wasn't better in a week.

I didn't have to call him for at least a year. (Same problem, separate occurrence.) In 12 years, I've seen him maybe 6 times; the last time was over 5 years ago. If I had any kind of "pinched nerve" pain, I wouldn't hesitate to see him again.

[Raineyrocks]

I don't lump chiropractors all into one pile. Many are a combination of quackery, hucksterism, and insurance fraud. But there are some out there who still keep to the basics of un-pinching nerves and lining up the joints the way they're supposed to be aligned.

My first (and only) chiropractor is a good old-fashioned back cracker. His DC diploma is dated 1949. He works alone: no receptionist, no assistant, no x-ray tech. He answers his own phone, and schedules appointments every 15 minutes. No insurance: $10 per visit, cash or check.

Yep: ten bucks per visit. 

I was skeptical. During her second pregnancy, my then-wife had horrible sciatic pain. The MD's solution was bed rest; that just wasn't an option with a 4 year old at home. A friend suggested "Doctor Roy" McCormick.

We went, and he was amazing. He was gentle and soothing, as he should be with a scared expectant mother in pain. Despite his "every 15 minutes" scheduling, he spent at least 45 minutes with her. Told her to come back in a week, and after the second visit told her not to worry about coming back unless she had more problems. She didn't.

Fast forward a couple of years. I woke up with one of those horrible neck cricks. You know, the kind that makes you walk around ear-to-shoulder like Quasimodo, where you have to turn you entire body to face someone who speaks to you. Three days of heating pads, ibuprofen, and pulsating shower massage didn't help. I called Dr. Roy for an appointment.

He never asked what the problem was. When I got on the table, he felt down my spine and told me where I hurt. And he was exactly right. He cracked everything from skull to coccyx, collected his ten-spot, and told me to expect some soreness for a day or two, and call if it wasn't better in a week.

I didn't have to call him for at least a year. (Same problem, separate occurrence.) In 12 years, I've seen him maybe 6 times; the last time was over 5 years ago. If I had any kind of "pinched nerve" pain, I wouldn't hesitate to see him again.

Wow, I'd like to find someone like that!  I have never been to a chiropractor at all so these posts are really helping me to know what to look for.  Dr. Roy sounds like my old Dr. Lamar in Maryland.  He kept notes in a notebook,wore a cute little bow tie and suit, and his nurse wore the good old uniform with the paper plane hat and he charged $25 a visit no matter how long the appointment took.  He did puncture my ear drum though otherwise he was great.

Trying to find a doctor up here has been extra hard, I still don't have one because they find it hard to believe that I have no medical records from Dr. Lamar!

[Lex]

I know a really good one in West Lebanon. Although that might be a bit far from you.

[Raineyrocks]

I know a really good one in West Lebanon. Although that might be a bit far from you.

Heck it might be worth the drive.   I drive all the way to Gorham for my dentist.   Is it farther than an hour?

[dalebert]

What I'm saying is more like, "Don't go to that shaman, he believes the reason I keep getting headaches is that there's a little elephant stomping around in there, and the only way to get it to stop is to put a mouse in my ear and scare the elephant away."

Yeah, there was a good Bullshit episode on those kinds of chiropractors. Either they're quacks who just aren't objective enough for me to trust with my body or they're outright cons just trying to bilk money out of gullible people at the risk of their health. Even if you're aren't going in for those... subflixationicanons... or whatever, I'd make sure you're going to a trustworthy chiropractor by making sure they aren't pushing the sketchy stuph.