Ok, so you wake up in the morning, and your back hurts.  Then you get up and
look in the mirror.  Much to your suprise, you see that even though you
*think* you are standing up straight, you are leaning noticeably to the left.
"Uh, oh!" you think, "It must be time to find a chiropractor"  What do you
do?

Enter an item asking people for recommendations for chiropractors and
describing experiences which support their recommendations.  Ok, why not?

Thanks.

28 responses total.

Not me.  I simply got a book on stretches and paid particular attention
to the section on back stretches.  The basic idea that works for me is to
move till it hurts, hold till the pain goes away, move further till it
hurts again, hold, move, etc. till you've run out of range of motion.
Repeat this several times till you can go full range with little or no
pain.  Repeat several times during the day to keep the tigh spot limber.
I use to suffer from neck and back pain that would last for weeks at
times.  The stretching helps me a lot!  It *might* work for you too.

Have you considered Klapp Chiropractic Center on Washtenaw near 
Golfside?

[Agora item 23 has been linked to Consumer cf item 83]
 
bruin, what is it you like about Klapp Chiro?  I'd prefer one who doesn't
overwhelm me lectures, brochures, newsletters, etc. on how to eat right,
what a great thing chiropractic is and whatever (though learning a few
good excercises, such as mentioned in :1 doesn't bother me, and I've
found to be helpful).

i've never been to a chiropractor.  there are so darn many in the ann arbor
area that i am looking for strong recommendations based upon personal
experience, not a phonebook listing.  thanks.

Try to find one that uses the "activator method" 

Dunno, I prefer manual manipulation to the "activator", but both can work.
There's a place on the corner of Miller and Maple, and I've heard *glowing*
reviews of the doctor there, who *may*, if my crummy memory serves, be named
Steve MCClain or McCleen or some such.  Wander in.  Sometime-Grexers Thea and
Becca mentioned him to me.
Best of luck.

I'll let arabella get in here with a glowing recommendation for 
Dr. Sue Anderson on Packard; I've been seeing her for six 
years, Leslie for nine.

  Dr James Summers in Dexter is very good, so I've heard. 

As Ken mentioned, I've been a patient of Dr. Sue Anderson on Packard
for 9 and a half years.  She is gentle and caring, and she has
really helped me improve my sacrum problems, and also relieved 
a really bad case of wrist tendonitis.  

My prefered method is the rather common "re-enter bed" method

I use to do that too.  It just prolonged the agony for me.

Shiatsu you.

Aerobic exercise classes, as much "non-guy-thing" as they are, do tend to do
wonders for putting all the muscles back into balance.  It's what I'm doing
this summer to get rid of accumulated karate class damage.

years ago in canada and under their med coverage and at the urging
of a gf who needed chiropractic i was presuaded by her to give it a
try simply for the sake of the try, not having anything in particular
that needed fixing.
  
i gotta report - WOW!  haven't a clue as to which methodology was
being used, but i certainly felt much better and i was feeling pretty
good going in. did it a couple of times just for the experience.
  
whichever you choose, you will like it.

(This item now linked to the Health conference)

So what *is* chiropract-- anyway?  My HMO seems to class chiropractors with
faith healers and snake handlers, preferring phyical therapy instead.

That's my opinion too. I don't like mumbo-jumbo with my medicine. We have
only gone to professional PT for muscular-skeletal abnormalities.

 Chiropracters treat the spine, and make spinal adjustments. You might want
to do an AltaVista search on the subject.

rane slipped in.

Chiropracters range from "true believers" in the old chiropractic creed
(who practically claim that proper chiropractic spinal manipulation can
cure anything short of death) to hustlers who want to sign everyone they
can up for (expensive) twice-a-month "treatments" (for life) to rational
dudes who realize that they're basically an alternative school of PT with
some dubious mumbo-jumbo left over from rather pre-scientific beginnings.

For the sort of stuff that chiropractic is good at treating, a good
chiropracter is better than a good PT.  The biggest problem is finding
one who's neither a cwackropracter nor a clod.  A good one will refer
you to a PT, MD, or whatever as professionally as a good dentist will
refer you to an oral surgeon (when that's what you need). 

Yeah, that business with repeat visits makes me suspicious.

Believer:  "I've been seeing a chiropracter for 10 years!  It's great!"
Me:  "And you still aren't cured?"

Scott, I don't think it works that way.  Or at least, there's a difference
between a specific trauma and general maintainance.  It's like the difference
between saying; "the muffler shop did a good job of fixing my exhaust after
the tail pipe hit a pot hole and broke" or "my mechanic always does a very
thorough tune up and leave the car running smoothly"--see?  I mean, between
uneven pavement, awkward loads and poorly fitted chairs, not to mention shoes,
we're continually abusing our spines, so visiting a chiropractor once a month
is sort of good basic maintainance.  If you're fixing a specific trauma, it
might be once a week for, say, two or three months, then back to basic
maintainance.  PT is much the same way, although they only do trauma so you're
on your own to continue with healthy exercizes that straighten and strengthen
the musculo-skeletal system.

Regular exercise of all the muscles does tend to protect the body against
damage, though.  A couple different chronic problems I had went away when I
started aerobics a couple years ago.

I have always tried to do my own maintenance when it comes to my body.
It not only gives my a deeper understanding of how it works but also
of what its limits are.  We are also all unique enough there is not
one cure-all.  Cure-alls tend to be tweeks to ease the symptoms instead
of figuring out the cause.  (Hence having to take the old bod back
into the chiropractor to bring the wayward back in like.  The poorly
fitting chair, uneven pavement, awkward loads mumbo-jumbo is just that.
What did the human species walk on before uneven pavement?  Sit on before
poorly fitting chairs or carry before awkward loads? Get the ole bod in
shape so it can handle that stuff without breaking down on you all the
time!  It's a living thing, unlike your car, fully capable of
repairing itself, in most situations, if you treat it right and give it
time.)

Other,
        Dr. Kabish is a great doctor. He is a D.O., practices next to whole
foods (shops there), does acupucture, cranial sacral stuff, chinese medicine
and spinal manipulations when needed. He also works at the UofM hospital, pain
management I think. He doesn't fool around with insurance companies, cause
they limit things in too many ways for his practice. He's the best doctor I
know. I he can't help you, he'll send you to someone that can. His number is
973-LIVE. His wife, Mary, used to work at whole foods when we were there. TC
had TMJ and Doc Kabish was successful at permanetly ridding her of it through
the cranial sacral adjustments.

how could pelvic manipulation eliminate a jaw disorder????  (Yes, I know of
Dr. K.)

How on earth did you get from cranial sacral adjustments to pelvic
manipulation? By the way, can I bum a dollar?

oops!  <laugh>  misread it, skipped the "cranial" part...

Well, he might do a cranial scrotal manipulation if you double his fee!

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