I am a licensed massage therapist, and I lease space in a chiropractic office. I have been seeing the chiropractor there for treatments of various ailments for the past 8 years. Having constant chiropractic care at my disposal for that long, I can tell you... it really does work in the short-term for pain. However, it is then the patient's responsibility to continue to improve the condition so it will not return. In my case, it has meant working out to strengthen my low back and abs, being constantly aware of my posture, and doing a lot of stretching to keep my body supple and strong. When I have flare-ups, or simply over-do it, my chiropractor gives me pretty much instantaneous relief.
She's not all about backs either. I sprained my ankle horribly, 3 times in the space of 8 days, several years ago when I was out of the country. It was so bad that my left tibialis anterior muscle was pulled away from the bone all the way up to my knee. The whole foot was bruised, extremely swollen, and could not bear any weight without excruciating pain... this says a lot, because between track injuries, car accidents, and equestrian injuries, I know a little about pain. Not even an AC joint separation with torn rotator cuff hurt as bad as this did.
I of course when to an orthopedic MD the very day I got home. He was quite impressed with my condition (I think he was the type who pulled the wings off of flies as a boy to watch them squirm) and suspected ligament damage in addition to the obvious muscle damage. He wanted to put me in an "air cast" during the days, which I could take off for sleep at night. He also wanted me to stay off it as much as I could for the next month, and ordered me not to work. After four weeks or so, I could gradually resume activity, get PT, etc, and should be right as rain within 6 months or so.
Well, being an MT, there is NO WAY I could stay off my feet for a month. I told him that, and he said I would certainly heal badly, and that I would have pain and bad function and little strength in that ankle, possibly permanently, if I chose to forego his protocol. He stopped short of actually saying "I curse you" though.
So... on to my chiro I went. She took a couple of x-rays (yes she is certified to take AND read x-rays), examined my ankle, and said she would help me through it. She never said she could cure it. She did say she could help my own healing process along. Her protocol:
1. Sublingual and topical arnica
2. tight figure-8 wrap of the ankle to stay on all day, take off at night.
3. Heat in the morning. Ice and elevation between massage appointments. To this I added self-massage three times a day on the entire lower leg from foot to knee.
4. "drawing the alphabet" with my foot three times per day, stopping if the pain level was more than a 7 on a 10-scale.
5. Daily chiropractic manipulation of the affected foot, and spinal manipulation to help prevent postural imbalance from compensation.
6. I was NOT to let myself limp under any circumstances.
One month later, much of the bruising was gone, no more edema, no pain, no weakness, and complete restoral of full range of motion. Had I followed the MD's treatment plan, I would have just been getting out of a cast and starting PT. So... I will not agree that chiropractic in general is quackery. She offered me some alternative treatment, and it worked beautifully.
Who came off as the quack in this scenario?
PS. She does do nutritional analysis as well. You keep a food diary for two weeks, and fill out a six page questionnaire. She looks those over and finds the areas where you may be deficient in nutrients. She then makes recommendations for either changes in diet or use of supplements.
Sounds to me like a lot of you simply have not been to good chiropractors?