Chiropractor - emg scan results

[MyUserName]

There's not a lot of science in chiropractic.

Are you sure? My chiropractor seems to know what he is talking about.
Also isn't it a 4 year degree course? If there is not much science, what on earth are they doing for 4 years???

[Old Greg]

I went to a chiropractor yesterday (gf chefs suggestion) due to a bad back from lugging furniture around the house last weekend and wrongly assuming the pain would go away after a few days.

I've never been to one before and the first step was a general physical exam followed by an EMG scan.

As the doctor scanned each vertebrae, the results colours showed up and by the time he finished the results were mostly red (80%), 10% black and the rest blue.

Not good, from what the doc says. My questions are, and I know I should have asked the doctor this:
- what exactly does an emg scan check?
- getting a bad score (i.e mostly black and red) for the results signifies what?
- how "medical" is a chiropractor in your opinion? by that I mean is a chiropractor like a herbal heeler or a true medical doctor.

There is a follow meeting next week to go through the results but I thought I would ask the crowd on here first.

Make up your own mind, but for a back problem, I would be seeing a good physio first, and then a doctor if recommended or if no progress.

Chiropractic - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Are you sure? My chiropractor seems to know what he is talking about.
Also isn't it a 4 year degree course? If there is not much science, what on earth are they doing for 4 years???

Whatever they are doing, they aren't studying to be recognised medical professionals. They aren't doctors any more than homeopaths are.

[MyUserName]

Whatever they are doing, they aren't studying to be recognised medical professionals. They aren't doctors any more than homeopaths are.

Being as it takes a couple of weeks to become a homeopath and a several years to become a chiropractor I would guess there is a little more to it.

I went to the doctor with severe lower back pain and she gave me some pain killers. I went to the chiropractor and he diagnosed and fixed a strained psoas (sp?), I entered with a severe limp, left with a milder one and was fine within a day or two.

See above for how my chiropractor diagnosed and fixed up my elbow when a doctor just told me to stop fighting until it got better or have bone injections.

[d000hg]

Choosing a complementary therapy practitioner - Live Well - NHS Choices

Currently, practitioners of two complementary and alternative medicines are regulated in the same way as practitioners of conventional medicine. These are osteopathy and chiropractic. This regulation is called statutory professional regulation.

[doodab]

They can probably fix some back conditions but they aren't very medical at all as far as I can tell, the proper chiropractic bumpf contains some very dubious stuff and they basically reckon they can cure anything by manipulating the spine and skeleton.

As regards the degrees, there are three "institutes" or "colleges" of chiropractic awarding them, those are listed here:

Bodies Awarding Chiropractic Degrees | Undergraduate Education | Education | Website | GCC

These degrees are recognised by the "general chiropractic council" which is the regulatory body for chiropractors but they don't appear to be recognized degree awarding bodies as defined here, though they might be associated with them otherwise it's hard to imagine they could get away with claiming to offer undergraduate degrees:

The Education (Recognised Bodies) (England) Order 2013

It all seems a bit made up to me.

[Platypus]

Why wouldn't you visit an osteopath rather than a chiro.

Osteos are recognised by the medical community at least (if that's some measure of the authenticity of the practice)

[MyUserName]

Why wouldn't you visit an osteopath rather than a chiro.

Osteos are recognised by the medical community at least (if that's some measure of the authenticity of the practice)

Doesn't d000hg's post show they are both recognised? Although I am not sure what the exact difference is between them tbh.