9 Week Chiropractic program. Snake oil salesman?

[td88]

Went to a chiropractor for some neck pain bothering me for a couple weeks. Don't know what happened, maybe slept wrong.

Made the appointment for next morning. Walked in, filled out a basic new patient form, and then the Dr. gave me a tour of his practice. First thing I notice is how everything is out in the open, no doors or rooms really. He said things like "we will be spending lots of time on this." We begin a new patient consultation. He really started to quiz me pretty hard about a car crash 10 years ago that never bothered me. He took some X-rays, had me lay on a table while he feels my spine and told me to come back tomorrow!

Show up at the appointed time, he is not there. In fact, Doc shows up 10 minutes after my appointment was to begin and unlocks the door! He takes me right into the one room he has, and barely closes the door. He shows me the X-rays and points out these "Subluxations" I have, and has me read all this material about how pain is an unreliable indicator. He also told me my back was out in 4 spots but all that would be fixed during the later appointments.

He begins to explain decompressions, Stem and Heat, and minor adjustments, all for $1500 if I pre-pay! And then gives me a handsome discount because I'm friends with another friend of his, but it's still above $1200. I told him I wasn't interested in a program, just fix my neck and I gotta get to work. He told me that if these subluxations aren't fixed, they can get alot worse over time, and wanted a gentlemen's handshake that I would come back if he adjusted my neck at that time. He did eventually adjust my neck and was on my way.

Is this 9 week program a Get Rich Quick scheme for him or is it a real program?

[Paxiled]

Still tying Obama to everything?  This has been true for many years, long before he came along.  It's true most places where the economy is very successful, as these practitioners can find plenty of paying customers without having to find them through insurance referrals and don't have to deal with the insurance company rules.  It's the corporate bureaucracy they don't want to deal with, as these same docs often do take Medicare patients.  Who you gonna blame when Obama's term is over and we're back to having a white president?

[gymdandee]

That's what happens when you live that close to Washington D.C. and Obama

[Paxiled]

I've got insurance through my wife, but none of the osteopaths around here take insurance.  A lot of practitioners don't take insurance around here, including most of the psychologists and psychiatrists and any practitioner of integrated medicine.  Oddly, most chiropractors do take insurance, but you only get a few visits a year.  We have good insurance, but if the docs don't take it, it doesn't pay much.

[gymdandee]

Medicare and my Ins. and My wife's Ins. covers O.D. ( wife's ins. is through the state for teachers)

[Paxiled]

Woman?  I've never seen an osteopath, just chiros -- some good, some bad.  But they're a lot cheaper and an adjustment is an adjustment -- some are good at it, some aren't -- I think it's more an art than a science.  If you want science, I guess you see an orthopedist, but I can't say I've had much luck with them, either.  I have considered seeing an osteopath many times, but it's the money that stops me.

[gymdandee]

I like Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine! Not to say they are all good.
I love woman!!  

[Paxiled]

Hey, Gym, I saw a woman once slap her child in a baby carriage.  Should I never have anything to do with women?

[LizWilson12]

Um, maybe.

[td88]

Thanks for the detailed response. I'm going to go seek a 2nd opinion...if I can just get my X-rays from the doc without his PC crashing when I go to pick them up. Yeah, professionalism in this office is lacking. That was my first major red flag.
My crash was 9 years ago, at less than 5 MPH. I've hit things harder than that car with my 4-wheeler before and never thought much of it.

[gymdandee]

I suggest seeing a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine D.O.
I wouldn't see a chiropractor if you paid me!
I've seen a video of a chiropractor having a small child lying down on the parent and then adjusting the parent so that the adjustment helped the child!
I wish i could find the video but I haven't found it!

[Paxiled]

Who knows?  Nothing he said is right or wrong.  Long ago accidents are a problem depending on what happened during the accident.  When you see a doctor after an accident, he just looks for breaks and bleeding.  He doesn't tell you that a process of inflammation has started that could have repercussions way down the road.  The same thing happens to athletes who engage in collisions -- doctors tell them they're fine but a few year later they're not fine.  This happened to me -- I was in a car accident and the seat I was sitting in broke.  Doctors found no breaks, didn't say, after you stop hurting see a massage therapist or chiropractor or physical therapist to avoid the travails down the road of chronic inflammation, because what the body does is wall off areas of inflammation and they stay inflamed.  Later, you have back problems or neck problems.  So many years later I see a chiropractor, who wasn't very good, but he did show me on an x-ray where my cervical discs were wearing away and if I was in an automobile accident x number of years ago -- he got it to the year.  Later MRIs with orthopedists confirmed this as it worsened.  But we don't know if your accident was of that nature, so that's where he could be bogus.  Everyone has disc changes as they age and do things, but most people won't feel any pain from it.  It depends on how serious the original injury was if there was an injury and how successfully the body walled it off with protein.  As for his program, I'd always avoid anyone who has a program with a set number of visits.  How does he know how long your particular body will take to heal?  It could be just one treatment is all you'll ever need, and it could be a million treatments won't fix it.  By the way, it's not Stem, its Stim, or electrical stimulation.  Most chiros use it and many physical therapists use it, but I've never found it to be helpful.  Heat depends -- sometimes it's ice, sometimes heat -- depends on the injury.  Sometimes both.  So as I say, he could be right and he could be wrong, but the uniformity of his program when everyone is different is a sign of laziness.