How Does Chiropractic Work — Sciencebase Science Blog

How Does Chiropractic Work

What’s the origin of chiropractic?

Spinal manipulation has been used for thousands of years around the world to try and fix health problems. The modern version was developed by Daniel D Palmer in the nineteenth century and called chiropractic from the Greek words for doing and hand (praktikos and cheiro).

Palmer’s first patient was his janitor who had been deaf for seventeen years following a neck injury. Palmer claimed to have ‘clicked’ a joint back into place and the man’s hearing returned. Palmer, however, was jailed for practising medicine without a licence but his son took up the cause and chiropractic began to become popular.

How does chiropractic work?

Chiropractors like many other complementary health practitioners look at the body as a whole when they treat you. A chiropractor considers the body to be like a living machine - if a joint is misaligned or damaged then the smooth running of the machine can be upset causing inflammation, pressure on nerves and illness.

Chiropractors believe stress, poor posture and accidents, including sports injuries and the like can all stop the body machine running smoothly. Almost any aspect of health might be affected by problems in the spine, they believe. For instance, pressure on nerves connected to the intestines could be the root cause of some digestive disorders. Chiropractic manipulation of the spine at the point where these nerves emerge from the spinal cord through the vertebra could remedy such a disorder.

What happens during a treatment?

Your first session with a chiropractor often involves an assessment of posture, mobility of joints, and sometimes lifestyle. There are various standard tests such as the Thomas test, which determines mobility in the hip joints, the Yeoman’s test which involves the practitioner flexing your legs one at a time to assess joints for sprain and mobility. The chiropractor might also ask you to bend, raise your legs, test your reflexes, take your blood pressure or even an X-ray to build up a more detailed picture of a problem. As with osteopathy, chiropractors try to track down restricted or excessive joint movement, especially in the spine because they believe these problems are the cause of inflammation, swelling and pressure that leads to pain and illness.

A chiropractor might use some massage to loosen stiff muscles before focusing on the manipulation techniques. Manipulation usually involves a sharp, precise thrusting movement of a joint to ‘free it up’. There are several standard techniques aimed at making, what chiropractors refer to as, adjustments.

For instance, the Toggle Drop involves a swift and precise pressure applied with the hands to specific verterbrae in the spine while you lie face down. The Bunyon adjustment involves the practitioner applying a stretch between vertebra - a traction - to adjust the spine. The various manipulations often causes clicking noises, which can be quite alarming to the patient and may cause a little pain or discomfort at the time but this quickly eases off and the procedure has been shown to be extremely safe.

Chiropractic will often provide an effective long-term management of a condition and fully relieve symptoms. Patients may return only for a once-yearly maintenance session or if they have twinges. Chiropractors similarly to osteopaths will help you get a better posture, suggest lifestyle changes that might help your overall health and teach you some easy exercises to do at home.

What problems can chiropractic help?

Where’s the evidence?

There have been various clinical trials of chiropractic several of which have been reported by the well-respected British Medical Journal, published by the British Medical Association. The research reports that showed that chiropractic worked better at treating acute back pain than standard treatments offered in a hospital out-patients. The Clinical Standards Advisory Group in the UK which helps the NHS decide on approaches to healthcare recommends chiropractic for back problems in its guidelines for GPs.

Millions of pounds are spent each year in the UK and elsewhere on clinical trials into the effectiveness of different back pain treatments, one of which is chiropractic.

What do conventional doctors think about chiropractic?

Chiropractic had a poor image among the medical profession for most of this century, in the 1960s the American Medical Association condemned it as an ‘unscientific cult’ although the AMA lost its legal battle in 1987 and now chiropractors work in hospitals and sports clinics.

In Britain, chiropractors made sure they built up research evidence and in 1994 The Chiropractors’ Act gave them official recognition which means that if you use a registered chiropractor you have the security of knowing they are a state-registered health professional.

You are almost as likely to be referred to a chiropractor as an osteopath by your GP, but usually only for musculo-skeletal problems. Many doctors still prefer to send patients to an osteopath instead. However, clinics and community health centres often have chiropractors on-site complementing the work of the doctors and nursing staff. One thing that more and more doctors agree on is that the old advice of long periods of lying flat and still or restrained in a medical corset are not the way to treat back problems.

3 Comments »

  1. Antony Williams - Host of Chemspider said,

    September 7, 2007 at 2:36 pm

    While I am very much against SOME Chiropractors claims that it is the cure-all…and there are not many and I can smell them a mile away…my experiences with chiropractors are EXTREMELY positive, and relative to general medical practioners, in terms of helping me with my ailments are shooting way better on the success odds. For example:

    1) 10 days of waiting for a kidney stone to pass, lots of exams, lots of worry induced by the doctor only to give up, go to a chiropractor and have the kidney stone removed with ONE push on the spine. My “floating rib” was out of its socket I was told. INSTANT relief. Oh, and the medical doctor said it was impossible and all chiropractors are scam artists. Um..wrong. it’s happened twice since and each time resolved by a chiropractor

    2) Following a motorcycle accident going through weeks of agony and being told I would need cortisone injections to return mobility to my shoulder (DOCTOR). Within two weeks of manipulation and electro-stimulation therapy by a chiro I had 90% movement back. I am now at almost 100%, lift weights regularly and have little pain. NO injections required. Doctor’s comments…”clearly you weren’t in the pain you suggested when you saw me”. Yah right

    3) January this year…twisted back on a polished floor. Cancelled flight the next day and spent 2 days in bed until I could sit in a car. One week of massage and professional chiro care and I was walking upright, minimal pain and lifting weights in two weeks. This time ENCOURAGED by a doctor to see a chiro…full support. She’s my hero!

    I can continue…

    While I am not regimented about maintenance treatments (to my detriment) I have come to depend on chiros over doctors to resolve skeletal issues. As with all things find a good one. (I’m in Raleigh, North Carolina and I recommend “Chiropractic Partners”..I’ve used three of their offices. What’s good to read David is that the shift is happening and doctors are supporting chiros now..it was not my experience previously.


  2. David Bradley said,

    September 7, 2007 at 2:46 pm

    I definitely agree with you there Tony. This item was commissioned by a health publication and I reprinted it here as a standalone page. The publication insisted on balance and as little bias one way or the other as far as possible.

    My own experience of chiropractic has also been almost wholly positive. I prolapsed a lumbar vertebral disc some time back (carrying luggage to an upstairs room as it happens). The condition was misdiagnosed by three separate GPs, a hospital consultant, an osteopath, an acupuncturist, and in desperation…a Bowen practitioner who also did sports massage.

    My chiro, did one simple conclusive test, treated accordingly and today I can walk and stand with zero pain, whereas previously, I had to sit down every five minutes to ease the sciatica and numbness.


  3. Scott Larsen said,

    September 12, 2007 at 10:56 pm

    This was a great post. I especially like the comments so far. I have a similar story with chiropractic. I was involved in a surfing incident injuring upper back and left shoulder. I was in Japan and didn’t know what to do. Luckily a chiropractor who was a friend of a friend was able to see me and I was feeling better after a few sessions. I don’t go to the chiropractor often but when I have issue with the neck or back I will pay him a visit and my experiences are always positive. It’s not a cure all but it has an important place in modern health care.


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