In my opinion, the chiropractic profession is utter quackery.
I'm a big fan and long time consumer of chiropractic. My doctor is a friend and he gets me back in action with one visit. However, in recent years, I've seen less and less of him because of barbell training. Today was a great example.
After of heavy weekend of outside work, biased toward my rght side, I had a typical crick in the neck/upper back that made sleep difficult and relaxation nearly impossible. I loaded the bar with moderate (not workset) weights and did 4 sets of 10 Presses. I hated the first set, dreaded the second, and found relief on #3 and #4. My mood lightened and my pain was gone in half an hour.
I'm pretty sure the reason was tht symmetrical loaded movement forced my splinted muscles to adapt by returning to their correct length, thus returning my neck to proper alignment. I've fixed lower back pain with squats, and I think they worked for the same reason. Anybody else had an experience like this?
In my opinion, the chiropractic profession is utter quackery.
I've had lifting fix my back during a session. Hip belt squats seem to do some yeoman's work on tractioning the lower lumbars back where they belong.
Conversely, I have had a number of chiros fix my back as well. I have found that the chiros who apply direct manipulation to the vertebrae to get them back in some proper sense of order get the job done much better than the ones who put you in odd positions and then start yanking your upper or lower body around. As I got stronger, the latter began to complain I was resisting them by tightening up. Which was likely true, because their manipulations hurt and I was anticipating the pain.
But the direct practitioners go right to the source of the problem which doesn't set me up for a bad time.
The point of the thread was to discuss whether others have experienced "self-adjustment" by lifting, not to debate chiropractors. I believe weightlifting takes care of many of the things chiroprators treat, especially pain induced by muscular imbalance and/or splinting.
Do you?
Tonight's deadlifts. Stiff back until the bar got to 275 lbs, then it completely disappeared. I've had the same thing happen with squats, not so much with bench press.
Yes.
With chiropractors YMMV. There are a number of variations, skill level, techniques within styles, lumping them all into one bucket is pretty misleading. For pain, they have a track record remarkably similar to MD's. Which you may think good or bad. In my experience, for the right kind of problem, they tend to be better. If you've found a "good one" they will let you know if you have the "wrong kind" of problem.
Best to have your own ideas on this however. Never assume that someone taking your money will tell you to spend your money elsewhere, you've got to be the judge of that.
For me it's the squat for low back. Somewhere near the bottom I'll get a subtle pop, usually in late warmup, and along with it a sense that my work set will be doable.
My theory is if you hold form, you force symmetry and the muscles have no choice but to return to normal length and let the back get back to normal.