RE: Chiropractors

["Kathy Mayeda" <kathy_mayeda@atce.com>]

Okay, this is where you and I will always disagree!  I won't even
pretend to be able to change your mind, but I want to relay my
own personal experiences with chiropractors, both human and equine.

I went to an orthopedic surgeon when a dislocated my "rude finger".
Okay, I spend most of my day at the keyboard, and am kind of dependent
on my finger working.  But the orthopedic surgeon essentially told
me that my finger will always be deformed and have limited range of
motion.  I went to my chiropractor for another issue, and relayed
what the orthopedic surgeon told me.  She said "B---- S----", and
proceeded to work on it via manipulation and ultrasound, told me
to take some of the same supplements you recommend, and got
some physical therapy.  I now have full range of motion
in that finger with no deformity. No thanks to the orthopedic surgeon,
who is affiliated with Stanford University.

I can flip you off with finesse now!

If I DON'T get an chiropractic adjustment, my pelvis gets
out of whack and I'm in pain.  My sciolosis gets more pronounced
and I get to be a real crooked rider.  If I am good and
go see my chiropracter when I feel slightly tweeked, my back
doesn't go into spasm like it did last time!  I KNEW my hip
was tweeked before I rode the Fireworks 50 but didn't get adjusted.
Didn't get adjusted before crewing the Swanton 100 either and the
following day, I had a terrible time getting out of bed.

I went to the
doctor.  He didn't do anything because I had already told him
I made an appointment with my chiropractor.  His comment was,
"You'll be treated if you go to your chiropractor.  We would just
be treating you with drugs instead to do the same thing."  I always
feel immediate relief after a chiropractic treatment, although
I have to admit this last spasm took quite a few treatments.

My horse couldn't physically make it up the hill last year.  You
could see that his whole hip was assymetrical.  I had a well
known endurance vet who has a base practice in equine chiropractic
and accupuncture treat him with accupuncture and chiropractic
manipulation.  The very next time I rode my horse, he was able
to power himself up that very same hill without a problem.  He
tweeked himself rolling in the paddock and getting tangled in his
sheet earlier this winter.  Tweeked again, acted lame.  Called
Nancy again and he was no longer lame.  She never ran "diagnostics"
other than structural alignment - in fact she would refer a new
client to a regular vet for diagnosis before she would
schedule an appointment.  She also evaluates the horses dental
alignment and farrier work in a much more structurally integrative
way than a traditional clinical vet.

Accupuncture is based on traditional Chinese medicine.  It's not
a "New Age" unicorn thing for unicorn woman.  I have also studied
martial arts and there is a lot to be said about internal power
and energy flow.  The "ki" as my ancestors would say or "qi"
as the Chinese would call it. It probably scares the Irish in you.

All the rest of the stuff you mentioned,

"alternative" equine
treatment modalities. Lasers,
magnets, infrared diodes, TTouch,
"whispering", mind reading, etc.lasers,"

really don't have much to do with chiropractors.  The ultrasound
treatment I received from my chiropractor is the same ultrasound
treatment I received from the Stanford Sports Medicine group
when I had my ACL injury.

Okay, TI.  Tear me apart.  I'm expecting it.

Kathy















-----Original Message-----
From: Tivers@aol.com [mailto:Tivers@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, September 11, 2000 8:31 PM
To: kathy_mayeda@atce.com; ridecamp@endurance.net
Subject: Re: Chiropractors


In a message dated 9/11/00 4:46:34 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
kathy_mayeda@atce.com writes:

<< Tom - what is your point, please?  Are we differentiating between
 equine chiropractors who come from a DVM standpoint, which many of them
 do, the lay chiropractor, or the equine chiropractor coming from the
 human realm?  Are these soft-tissue injuries you are talking about?

 Do you have objections to equine chiropracters?


 K. >>


Yes, I do. Manipulative techniques are questionable in human medicine, as
are
another half-dozen "alternative" equine treatment modalities. Lasers,
magnets, infrared diodes, TTouch, "whispering", mind reading, etc.

To the extent that a medical person is focused on unproven "technologies",
that person is NOT focused on diagnostic medicine. What I routinely get from
DVM chiiropractors is the same quality of advice that I get from TTeam
practitioners--that is, without any diagnosis whatsoever, a "cure" is
predicted from the treatment practiced by that person for a hocus pocus
"diagnosis" that has absolutely no basisi in fact.

As an example, more than one DVM chiropractor goes around and diagnoses
equine herpes in every horse, and selling large buckets of lysine to
unsuspecting morons. Another gives you the "hold your arm up while I hold
this herb next to your heart" carney trick everywhere he goes. Others
practice elaborate hoaxes with "energy pathways" and "nerve blockages" , and
assorted fantasies that sell real well to women of the "unicorn" persuasion.

I try to deal with genuine medics as much as possible, and don't want to
hear
about diagnoses regurgitated by the neighborhood quack. If you want to know
what a chiropractor can do for a horse, get Dr. James Rooney's latest videos
and listen carefully. Rooney was head of the Gluck Center in Kentucky and
one
of the best clinical vets I've encountered. Seen it all, including every
form
of quackery. Or ask any university clinical vet for an honest opinion.

ti.