ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

My Experience Using Chiropractic Treatment for Chronic Back Pain

Updated on December 2, 2020

I injured my back a while ago and had to deal with often severe pain every day. I went to the doctor and was sent to physical therapy, which actually made the pain worse. I put up with the problem for a long time, hoping that it would simply go away. I was reluctant to return to the doctor because I assumed I would be sent back to physical therapy.

Finally, I went to a different doctor because the pain wasn't improving. She recommended that I see a chiropractor. I was stunned because I had always heard that chiropractors were not real doctors and that chiropractic was quackery and based on pseudoscience. Yet a real doctor was recommending that I go see a chiropractor.

I went online to research chiropractic and read about studies that had found that chiropractic treatment was just as effective as other treatment methods for back pain. I'm a skeptic by nature, so I still wasn't sure but I decided to give chiropractic treatment a try to see if it worked.

Therapeutic massages may ease back pain
Therapeutic massages may ease back pain

My Experience Using Chiropractic Treatment for Back Pain

On my first visit to the chiropractor, she confirmed that the muscles in my back and neck were inflamed. She used an Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS) machine to help bring down the inflammation. EMS machines increase the supply of blood and oxygen to injured muscles and increase the production of endorphins, which have an analgesic effect. She also did an adjustment and stretched my neck muscles to relieve the tension.

It surprised me is that she used some of the same treatment methods that the physical therapist used without requiring exercise afterward. I had assumed she would use some strange alternative treatment but what she did was basically the kind of treatment you would get from a physical therapist.

After my first chiropractic visit, one area of my back that had very severe pain was completely pain-free. I couldn't believe that the pain there was completely gone. I went for treatment twice a week for a few weeks, which was then reduced to one visit every two weeks. I also had regular therapeutic massages. My level of pain decreased significantly. So, at least for me, chiropractic treatment was effective at reducing my pain level.

How to reduce back pain, reduce tension and stress

The Chiropractic Controversy

Chiropractic treatment is still very controversial. Critics insist that the effects of chiropractic treatment are simply a placebo effect. Because you believe the treatment relieves your pain, it does. So, was the big improvement in my back pain simply a placebo effect?

The care I received from the chiropractor was completely conventional if you consider physical therapy and sports medicine to be conventional. I have no idea what kind of care a patient with a problem different from mine would receive. There is no doubt that chiropractic treatment was built on pseudoscientific ideas but that does not necessarily mean that all treatments offered by chiropractors have no scientific basis.

If you suffer from back pain, you can give chiropractic a try to see if it works for you. You should go to your Primary Care Physician first to get a recommendation on the best course of treatment. It may be a good idea to get an X-ray done first to ensure that chiropractic treatment will be safe. You should also ask your PCP if they think chiropractic will work for you and if yes to recommend a good chiropractor. There are a lot of them and some are better than others. Check out reviews as well. Some chiropractors have a lot of negative reviews and should be avoided. A bad chiropractor could end up making your pain worse.

This content reflects the personal opinions of the author. It is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and should not be substituted for impartial fact or advice in legal, political, or personal matters.

© 2011 LT Wright

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)