The excellent blog, Passive Aggressive Notes has a submission from a reader who rejected his chiropractor. Clay decided not to go back after the doctor refused to show him his x-rays unless Clay attended a seminar about payment plans and treatment options. A few days later he got a note that said:
Dear Clay,
Thank you for taking the time to chat with my office staff the other day regarding your care here at [redacted] Chiropractic.
I am sorry that you do not take your health seriously. When you decide to make your health a priority, please know we are available to help you.
I urge you to take good care of your health and contact us immediately if you run into any problems. It’s been a pleasure to be of service to you.
Oh, no! He’s not taking it seriously!
Spinal Manipulation [Passive Aggressive Notes]
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Payment Plants?
Actually, isn’t NOT going to a chiropractic taking your health seriously? Go see a licensed physical therapist who doesn’t believe in the hokum of chiropractic.
@Rippleeffect: Apparently money DOES grow on trees…
But if you don’t go to a chiro, who’s going to charge you for your bi-weekly “adjustments” for many many years to come?
My former chiropractor sucked all of my money with multiple appointments a week for months only to tell me, “I honestly don’t know what to do.”
@Rippleeffect: I’d attend that seminar…
@Rippleeffect: Oh yes. You see even in Maintenance, where you’re healthy and have no problems with your back, they’ll tell you that you should be going in once a month. I imagine most insurance companies won’t pay for monthly visits to any doctor if you don’t have a condition to treat.
Do you have to pay for those seminars about payment plans?
I know a few people who take their toddlers to chiropractors. There can’t be much worse than some guy making cracking noises with your child’s growing spine.
@Rippleeffect: Dang, I totally missed that it was ‘plants’ and not ‘plans’ in both places.
Quackery. Nothing but quackery.
@blue_duck: And yet.. you kept going.
Dear Dr. Quacky McQuack, D.C., F.I.A.M.A.:
Thank you for taking time out from your busy schedule of selling snake oil, aligning chakras, and grounding elemental energies to make snide observations about customers’ decision-making abilities.
Sincerely,
Rev. Apotheosis, G.T.F.O., F.O.A.D., esq.
@Rippleeffect: It’s like medicinal marijuana, except instead of a sense of relaxation, it gives you an overwhelming sense of fiscal responsibility…
@mgy: …I was smiling at some of the funny comments until I read that. I’m horrified beyond the capacity of humorous typing.
@akede2001: I was under the impression I was being treated because my back was starting to feel better. She dropped the “I f***ed you out of your hard earned money so I can go home and have lobster for dinner” bomb at the very end. That was the last time I went.
@Rippleeffect: Tree’s that grow money so you can cover your payments apparently.
My first job out of college was as a medical adjuster for a car insurance company. The worst people to deal with, without a doubt, were chiropractors. You would not believe how many sessions they would schedule for people who had been in minor accidents. And they were the absolute rudest people I have ever had the misfortune to speak to on the phone. We had doctors (MDs) in our office telling us that these adjustments were not medically necessary and to cut them off, and nearly every chiro would threaten to sue us if we did. I have no love for chiropractors.
I received multiply phone messages from mine saying that I have not been in for a while and to schedule an appointment. My copay is up to 20.00 now and they wanted me to come three times a week. I wish I could, but that money adds up. It was almost harassment and I had to tell them to stop calling me. I would call them to setup an appointment when I have the time! lol.
So where exactly do you get the seeds grow a payment plant? Please don’t tell me Home Depot or Wal-Mart
@apotheosis: Excuse me, subluxations.
Dear doctor Quack, I’m sorry you do not take Evidence based medicine seriously.
Seriously, he should go to a real doctor. Heck even acupuncture is more legit than this nostrum.
@Git Em SteveDave thinks a friend with weed is better, @kpfeif: I’d always thought too that chiropractice was sort of a sham, though I don’t even remember where I got that impression. Looked at MayoClinic.com just now and saw that “chiropractic and spinal manipulation” is considered a “complementary and alternative medicine.” Wouldn’t think it from the above response. Can you imagine someone’s yoga teacher sending them such a threatening letter?!
@Speak: It completely mystifies me how this “practice” has gained such legitimacy in the past several years.
Sometimes I fear for the future of common sense.
What a dick!
@battra92: That’s like saying a placebo is better then actual vitamins.
“Vitamin” sounds boring. “Placebo” sounds like an exotic casino game. Like baccarat.
Image, baby.
Only a chiropractor hurting for business would make such an insinuation. I’d love to write this man back with a letter:
Dear Mr. Chiropractor, D.C., F.I.A.M.A,
Thank you so much for pointing out the obvious, I was completely mistaken on my approach. I SHOULD be taking my health seriously! I’m such a fool for coming to your establishment for services… I should of be seeing a REAL Doctor! (you know, the ones that go to school for 7 years and have that pesky M.D. next to their name) I applaud you for your complete honesty with patients, and I’ll make sure the word spreads around on the internet. You are an INSPIRATION for chiropractors everywhere. Bravo, sir. Bravo.
It’s been a pleasure taking business away from you, Clay.
I’d have to say that after I seriously hurt my back going a few times to a chiro did help, but then after I felt better they wanted me to keep coming twice a week for two months, then once a week for a few months, etc… I believe I ended up with a co-pay bill for over $1000. Decided to call it quits when I went in for my “maintenance” back crack session with a cold and they sold me a $20 bottle of Vitamin C pills that I could have bought at Walgreens for $2.50. Not to mention they tried to convince me that by having my spine properly aligned that I would digest food better, my kidneys would work better, etc… Yeah, and if I take this homeopathic remedy all my ailments will go away. Thanks, but I’ll stick to proven medicine for now on.
Heh, so Chiro’s have been fighting for years to be accepted as “legitimate” medical care providers, then this jagoff sends a letter like that.
Way to put your profession back 20 years, doctor quack.
@Rippleeffect: Any good chiropractic “doctor” will accept plants as payment – chickens and other small mammels too.
Recycle the letter and move on. Life’s too short to deal with passive-agressive *ssholes.
I went to a chiropractor for months. he made it so every time i go for a jog, my tailbone completely pops. Awesome. Thanks for that.
Anyway, I stopped going to the chiropractor, and read The Mindbody Prescription by Dr. john Sarno, and I never needed to even think about going to a chiropractor ever again.
Chiropractors = modern day witch doctor
@donkeyjote: Actually acupuncture does work for aches and pains:
National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a consensus statement on acupuncture that concluded that
there is sufficient evidence of acupuncture’s value to expand its use into conventional medicine and to encourage further studies of its physiology and clinical value.[5]
The statement was not a policy statement of the NIH but is the considered assessment of a panel convened by the NIH.
The NIH consensus statement said that
the data in support of acupuncture are as strong as those for many accepted Western medical therapies
and added that
there is clear evidence that needle acupuncture is efficacious for adult postoperative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting and probably for the nausea of pregnancy… There is reasonable evidence of efficacy for postoperative dental pain… reasonable studies (although sometimes only single studies) showing relief of pain with acupuncture on diverse pain conditions such as menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, and fibromyalgia…
I can vouch for acu working on tennis elbow
There are some chiropractors who aren’t quacks… who realize that chiropractic manipulation can be good for some conditions but they’re not going to cure the common cold with it. I think those are few and far between (they are in my experience at least.)
Another alternative is an osteopath. A modern Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine is basically an MD with training in musculoskeletal manipulation (Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine) that’s used in conjunction with other therapy where appropriate. They realize that OMM is applicable when some part of your body is out of alignment (not just your spine) but won’t tell you that you need to come back 2x/week until you feel 20 again, and once a month to keep feeling 20.
I’m pleasantly surprised at how many people are critical of chiropractic here. They are essentially massage therapists who are trying to claim they are “doctors”.
@Mr_Human: Other studies have shown that “fake” acupuncture also works just as well. You see, the big problem behind a lot of these “alternative” therapies isn’t whether or not they might work (some conceivably might, like acupuncture, while others definitely cannot, like homeopathy). It’s the quack alternative theories of medicine and disease behind them. Sticking needles in someone might work. But “chi” or whatever is nonsense.
Chiropractic is a legitimate practise. Unfortunately, the field is flooded with quacks who work like cult leaders to get and keep their patients.
I have seen one chiropractor work wonders, and another enslave a friend of mine for years.
OTOH, if you get to “I really don’t know” then it is time to try getting advice from another field. If you find the Chiropractor does not make you feel better, then you should see your GP.
Yes, PTs and DOs can also do adjustments, but they are far, far more expensive, and should be reserved for when they are needed, even if your insurance covers it (because we all pay for inflated fees).
@GearheadGeek: DO’s are certainly more reliable than chiros, definitely. And I’ll acknowledge that chiropractic might “work” for some problems with the back or muscles (though I highly doubt it works for anything more systemic). But I am very skeptical that it’s much better than a good massage therapist or physical therapist.
This should really be sent to a local TV station. The shaming is well deserved. That wasn’t even subtle.
@Mr_Human: No doubt, acupuncture has its uses (as does the placebo), but acupuncture as a placebo has a higher “healing” rate then as an actual fix.
It’s interesting to me that everyone thinks chiropractors are quacks; I’ve never been to one myself, but there was one in the next city over to the town I grew up in that was, by all accounts, very good. I had a friend who missed months of school because she got very ill; a half dozen MDs that she went to couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her. After a while, a friend of the family suggested the chiropractor. He looked over her x-rays, spotted a place where her vertebrae were pinching a nerve, and fixed the problem in about 5 minutes. While I’m sure there are quack chiropractors out there, I’d be more careful about claiming they all are.
@GearheadGeek: Definitely. I got one of the good ones, and even he admits that you have to be careful with chiropractors (though he thinks that even most of the bad ones have good intentions, they just overreach). I’m on maintenance with mine right now, because, while I’m in generally good health, I do have some back problems that can relapse. He sees me once every three weeks, charges me $60 a visit (well worth it), and not only does he give a discount if I pay a year in advance, but that also entitles me to free visits between my scheduled ones if I want them — and sometimes, like after I moved my mom to her new apartment, I want those free visits more than anything in the world, let me tell you.
Not to mention that he actually explained to me what a “subluxation” is — it’s a minor dislocation of the vertebrae, not large enough to be thought of as actual damage to the spine, but enough to put pressure on the nerves (thus causing pain) and give the possibility of developing into something worse in the future. It’s a bit of jargon, but what field doesn’t have jargon?
Oh, and he did my initial exam, x-rays, followup consultation and all that for free. He only started charging me once he started actually treating me.
He’s one of the good ones, and I wouldn’t trade him for anything in the world.
I’ve worked for a good one and a bad one…
Here’s the easiest test: They say “One of your legs is longer than the other. That’s part of the problem.” Almost EVERYONE has one leg slightly longer than the other one. It’s totally normal. It is not a reason for chiropractic treatment.
The good chiropractor I worked for was honestly someone devoted to making people’s lives better. I think it works because it kept me out of a scoliosis brace during my teen years.
I honestly see a lot of chiropractors and dentists running similar practices – you have the ones with the glossy brochures and all the “late$t” treatment options and you have the ones that actually care about people.
If he wasn’t taking his health seriously, he’d have never gone to a chiropractor in the first place.
Let me run that letter through my BS to English translator:
“Unfortunately it does not appear I can make enough money off you to make it worth my time to treat you. Therefore you will have seek help elsewhere.”
What’s with all the chiropractic hate?
I’ve had back problems my whole life, and was always worried about re-injuring myself. My doctors, surgeons and even Physical Therepists never explained what was wrong and what I could/couldn’t do.
My chiropractor was the first person in 15 years to take the time to clearly explain what was wrong with me, what caused the pain, and what I could do to maintain a healthy back.
I am forever grateful to him for his time and help. (above and beyond paying him for it.)
@johnva: Agreed: I don’t buy the “chi” crap about acupuncture. All I know is that when I had tennis elbow, my doctor gave me some pills (anti-inflamatories, I guess), and the pain went away until I ran out of pills. On a friend’s recommendation (he’d had the same issue), I went to an acupuncturist. He used needles with an electric assist. In four sessions the pain went away. Ditto a few years later, when I had some neck pain from repetitive stress, I think. There’s something there; it could use more research.
@AaronZ:
Agreed! I had a back injury when I was younger in which my only option was to turn to a chiropractor. Three weeks of slowly working my back into its proper position (my spine was 20% out of alignment) and I was good as new. I’ve never gone back.
This business of calling it a snake oil voodoo practice is only because of dishonest chiropractors; it’s true that it’s hard to find a good one, but they are out there.
@AaronZ:
I believe it comes from the whole spinal manipulation thing. I equate a chiropractor to getting a good massage (no, I’ve never been). I am sure they know all about spines and whatnot, but…no one is going to crack my spine.
Hey, let’s leave acupuncture out of this…. I know what the skeptics say, but there’s no way that the placebo effect can explain why I stopped chronically bleeding after only one informal acupuncture treatment, which, initially, I was completely unimpressed by and had zero expectation that it would do anything.
On the other hand, a friend of mine went religiously to her chiropractor.. until he worked on a new part of her spine for no reason and the next day she was crippled with debilitating pain in her lower back and had to go to the emergency room. She couldn’t return to work for months after that.
The chiropractor visited her at home for a few days and was totally at a loss for what happened.
*shivers* Gives me the willies. Everyone can just stay away from my spine thank you very much.
@Youthier: Actually, this is true, but in some cases it can be a sign of a bigger problem. I know that, when my mom was having severe back issues, one leg seemed to be a full inch or so shorter than the other. The reason being that her back was so messed up that it took her pelvis off-axis. That was one of the many problems our chiropractor corrected over the course of her treatment, and she has a much better, less stressful posture now (she can actually walk several blocks again!)
Again, a good one will take this as a possible “warning sign” and do some lower-back x-rays and other tests to determine the cause. A bad one will just make it an excuse for more visits.