On September 18, 1895, a loony beekeeper named Daniel David Palmer, who liked to dabble in physiology, noticed a lump in blind Harvey Lillard's back. Palmer realigned Lillard's spine to fix the lump and, legend has it, Lillard regained his sight.
Chiropractic was born.
Wired has a neat little write up on this crack heard around the world. Check it out.
Now, of course, no Fitness Nerd entry would be complete without snide commentary, so if you want my opinion, I think chiropractic corrections can work in the right situations and I think there are a lot of really good, honest, helpful chiropractors out there.
However, I think therapies along these lines -- physical therapy, acupuncture, active release therapy, chiropractic, etc -- should work in conjunction with the body so that, hopefully, the body will learn how to heal itself. Whenever I hear talk of a chiropractor who insists a patient needs to come in twice a month for an adjustment for the rest of their life, I get a little surly.
Discuss.
I'm all about the structural. Realigning muscles, not bones--just because you put a bone back into place doesn't mean the muscle isn't going to pull it out again. And that is exactly why you get chiropracters saying patients need to come in again and again and again. If structural is done properly, you can just go through the ten sessions and be good.
ReplyDeleteI dunno I've always been a bit suspicious about health claims like virus cures and things. I guess I just need more evidence that it has any impact, it just doesn't make intuitive sense to me.
ReplyDeleteBut for the back and neck sure helps a lot of people I've seen that.