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Physiotherapist vs chiropractor

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  1. #11

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    Quote Originally Posted by hello_there:
    OP: Your experience with the physiotherapist seems atypical. I had a doctor once tell me that chiropracters can be dangerous as they are mostly unregulated and can begin practicing with quite limited training.
    Agreed, that doesn’t sound like a typical physiotherapist, or a decent one at least but then every profession is going to have individuals that are better than others. I have always found hands on manual therapy to be far more beneficial for my various aches and pains and my advice if your physio is happy sitting with an ultrasound machine for an hour session three times a week is to find somebody else...
    My only chiro experience was being told by my orthopaedic surgeon after I broke my neck playing rugby to see a physiotherapist for rehabilitation and never, under any circumstances go to a chiro.
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  2. #12

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    Quote Originally Posted by hello_there:
    OP: I had a doctor once tell me that chiropracters can be dangerous as they are mostly unregulated and can begin practicing with quite limited training.[/url]
    I feel like there is a lot of misguided information about chiropractic. Chiropractic in the US/Canada is a doctorate program requiring 4 years of undergraduate university and then 4 years of graduate training at an accredited chiropractic college. In the UK it is a masters program. In Australia and NZ it is a 5 year bachelor degree. To be licensed in HK, a chiropractor needs to provide proof of education, licenses in other countries/states, letters of recommendation, letters from the school they attended, etc. After submitting all of this information, the Chiropractors Council will verify the information by contacting the appropriate people. Doesn't sound "mostly unregulated" or "practicing with quite limited training" to me.

    It is no secret that the medical community does not love chiropractors, some MDs are adamantly opposed to the use of chiropractic, telling patients such blatant lies as above, while others are very much pro-chiropractic. Strangely enough DO's (osteopathic doctors) and physical therapists in the US have been allowed to perform adjustments for a while, although many choose not to because of limited training.

    For those who didn't look up Sandra Nette from Claire ex-ax's post, she is a Canadian who was a chiropractic patient who had a stroke after having her neck adjusted by a chiropractor and is now a quadriplegic. I am not saying that chiropractic cannot and will not cause a stroke, but there have been numerous studies showing that there is no direct correlation between cervical spine (neck) adjustments and vertebrobasilar stroke. It is believed that patients who experience stroke after receiving neck adjustments are 1)already predisposed to having a stroke or 2)already experiencing early symptoms of a stroke (headache, neck pain, dizziness among others) when they go in to see the chiropractic and therefore the chiropractor did not cause the stroke.

    gunsnroses-it is unfortunate that that was your experience with chiropractic but that doctor was just after your money. There are bad doctors in every branch of medicine,
    but 1 (or whatever percentage) should not label the entire profession.

    Just something to thing about; how many people die every day after seeing there primary care doctor? How about the number of deaths associated with surgery? How many people die every year because of incorrect medication, over medication, etc? Despite all of the deaths associated with surgery, medication, MDs etc, I don't see many people boycotting their use.
    Spagman63 and Mrs Koala like this.

  3. #13

    I believe Chiropractic works but Chiropractors have different techniques and beliefs. I had been under care by a few Chiropractors who recommended regular adjustments for a year and and I had to follow the plan no matter whether my symptoms had improved or got worse. After the first year I have to continue care every other week for another year or so. Each adjustment only last for about 5 minutes and I was not able to ask them questions during my adjustment time.
    The Chiropractor I am currently seeing (Dr Brendan Smallbone from Tsim Sha Tsui Chiropractic Centre) has relieved my discomfort on my back which bothered me for more than a year. He checked my spine thoroughly and tried to look for the underlying reason which causes the discomfort. I felt better after two weeks of adjustment sessions. Besides the relief of the back pain, it also help me to breathe better.
    Originally I was seeing him three times a week but after two weeks I only needed to see him two times a week and now I only see him once a month to maintain my progress. When my symptoms improve, he tries to stretching out the period between each visit so that I don't need to see him that often.
    Physiotherapy, massage therapy or stretching take care of the muscle tension but Chiropractic deals with the underlying structural problem. Having a healthy lifestyle is important though as the symptoms will not be reduced or relapse will happen once when you only get adjusted once a month.


  4. #14

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    Dr Brendan Spagbone-smallman (from TST) - You're not doing Chiropractors any favours here, really.


  5. #15

    I'm not going to lie, I was weary of chiropractic when I first came across it too. The idea of someone pushing and cracking my back sounded a bit weird but once I was explained the philosophy and when I saw the results I was able to really see the benefits of chiropractic. My brother-in-law had tingling down his arm and hand and my sister suggested he see a chiropractor. After 6-8 weeks of treatment the tingling had completely gone.

    There are always going to be skeptics about different forms of treatment but I would not disregard chiropractic, especially when you're in pain. As another member mentioned chiropractors have to sit degrees. I have heard that there are some people here in HK who call themselves bone setters who don't have any formal education but I just looked for registered chiropractors (registered with the HK Chiropractic Council) as this is the organsiation that "regulates" the profession. I wouldn't bag it til you've tried it.

    Kate from Oz likes this.

  6. #16

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    Bone setters are unregulated and have no formal training. It's the same with Chinese Medicine doctors you see all over the city. There is now a school teaching Chinese medicine, no bone setting, but a person is not required to attend school. Most go through an apprenticeship and then can call themselves doctors.
    I don't disregard Chinese medicine, I've seen it work, but there seem to be some who are harming patients with their lack of education. Hopefully more regulation and better training will help.
    And for those who think I'm totally one sided, pro-chiropractic, I wasn't always. I was a skeptic and afraid of having someone crank my neck around and hurt me until I had a herniated lumbar disc. I was having severe low back pain, numbness in both legs and was starting to develope some weakness in my right foot and was told by my orthopedic surgeon that surgery was the ONLY option I had to fix the herniation. I ended up seeing a chiropractor because I didn't want to undergo surgery + 6 months rehab and 3 months later my pain and numbness was gone.

    Last edited by MCDC; 04-04-2012 at 12:48 PM.

  7. #17

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    [QUOTE=Claire ex-ax;1933577]Come on! You're not being the slightest bit subtle about this are you?

    Tell me, what are the code of ethics regarding advertising?

    What are you talking about? This is how I found my chiropractor, by getting information from the website of a professional body. How is this advertising for them?


  8. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by agriffin:
    My brother-in-law had tingling down his arm and hand and my sister suggested he see a chiropractor. After 6-8 weeks of treatment the tingling had completely gone.
    Herein lies the problem of basing an assessment of a medical procedure on anecdotal evidence. The fact that we recover from most ailments from which we suffer anyway, whether treated or not, means that the fact that someone recovered from an ailment whilst undergoing a particular treatment doesn't necessarily demonstrate that the the treatment facilitated the recovery. That's why we have evidence-based medicine and proper randomised double-blind trials. Does anybody know of any proper clinical trials of chiropractic treatment?

    Cochrane has this review summarising some of the existing research: Combined chiropractic interventions for low-back pain - The Cochrane Library - Walker - Wiley Online Library
    Last edited by dipper; 05-04-2012 at 10:00 AM.
    dear giant likes this.

  9. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by spagman:
    Hello. I used to have neck pain and chronic back pain and I had a few adjustment/treatment sessions from him and I feel a lot better. His technique is pretty gentle and he checks my whole spine thoroughly and seems to locate my problem joint area very well.
    I think Chiropractic deal with the structural problems while Physiotheraphy is more towards the muscle problems.
    Do need to see him a few times in the beginning though but after a month my progress is good and I am seeing him every other week now to prevent any replase.
    He is a nice Chiropractor as he is not pushy and he doesn't force me to join any care plan. He gives me good advice on stretching, how to choose good pillows and mattresses and how to maintain proper posture.
    Dr Brendan Smallbone works in Tsim Sha Tsui and I highly recommend you to see him.
    I DID NOT WRITE THIS!!!! I am an English teacher and would not have written such horrible grammar. Someone used my account to post this message. Although, I HAVE had treatment by Dr. Smallbone (his REAL name), I prefer Dr. Sunny Cheung. I like his style and manner better. He does a good job and is very thorough in my opinion. Chiropractic is a wonderful form of natural health treatment if it is done correctly. It helped alleviate my sciatica and got my weight balanced. It also helped my son recuperate from a misshapen head and relieved my wife of her chronic headaches. It has been a big help to my family. I thank God for bringing this into our lives.

  10. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by Spagman63:
    I DID NOT WRITE THIS!!!! I am an English teacher and would not have written such horrible grammar. Someone used my account to post this message.
    Nobody 'used your account'. If you look at the usernames you'll see the yours is spagman63 and the other is spagman.