What do you think about chiropractic care?

I've been wanting to discuss this for a while; thank you for bringing it up. I have a lot of feelings about it. First, I am for chiropractors in general. But, I've been to many chiropractors having suffered from back and neck issues most of my life. I have had good and bad experiences. More good than bad for sure. I think I have identified the reasons for my bad experiences. Here they are: 1. Being treated by a busy, impatient, ineffective or inexperienced chiropractor. The only way you'll know the difference is if you visit more than one. There are vast differences between techniques of one chiropractor to another. And, years of experience do not guarantee anything. Try more than one and go with the best fit for your body. 2. Getting adjusted while my body and muscles were stiff and cold is not good. It makes all the difference in the world to get an adjustment after warming up and stretching a bit. Exercising and/or getting a 3-5 min massage first is ideal. Here's a little story about one experience with chiropractors. I hurt my back crashing a motocross bike about 5 years ago and my spine was literally crooked and at least two vertebrae were fused together from scar tissue. I was in constant pain for years. I tried everything except for surgery. Chiropractors could do nothing for me--and believe me, I tried to get my spine to move in any way I could. It was locked into this awful position. I eventually just accepted it as permanent. One weekend snow boarding in the mountains, I caught an edge in the snow and hit the hard pack snow & ice so hard that I thought I was dead. I couldn't breath, I couldn't move, I couldn't see. I heard such a horrific internal cracking sound that I thought for sure I broke my back or neck. When I eventually got some wind back into me, I realized something was very strange. I had a bruising kind of pain all over from my impact, but my back was straight again--and pain free. My hit actually broke loose that scar tissue and I could stand up straight again for the first time in years. That is another example of why it is so important to warm up before a chiropractic adjustment. The reason I believe my impact was able to move my back when chiropractors could not was due to my body temperature. I was really warm from the workout and then the instant hit was really effective. So, if any of you are really having difficulty getting an effective adjustment, try exercising right before your visit. Be well, John Valenty