Police officers go to work every day with the knowledge, lurking
somewhere in the back of their minds, that they might not make it
home. The same goes for their families, so when my dad was injured
in the line of duty while serving a Southern Californian police
department, there was a moment of relief before regret set in.
Police officers go to work every day with the knowledge, lurking somewhere in the back of their minds, that they might not make it home. The same goes for their families, so when my dad was injured in the line of duty while serving a Southern Californian police department, there was a moment of relief before regret set in.
The year was 1988. Like most cops in violent cities, he regularly chased down desperate, often armed suspects with more than 20 pounds of gear strapped to his waist, from a service revolver and nightstick to radios, handcuffs, mace, and extra clips of ammunition. And like most career officers nationwide, he wound up with a back injury – two ruptured disks and a host of other complications – after attempting to subdue two suspects by himself.
Today, a man in my father’s position would have undergone back surgery immediately and been back on the job within a year. In 1988, he was given a 50 percent chance of walking again.
After eight months in bed, my dad decided to see a chiropractor, a move doctors at the time considered reckless and ill-advised. It turned out to be his own miracle, a nonsurgical alternative with concrete results.
Until recently, chiropractors were often considered the black sheep of the medical establishment. Through the 1980’s and even into the early ’90s, many were viewed as a new kind of snake oil salesman, proffering cures to just about anything for a price, and prompting regular M.D.’s to cry foul.
However, the last 10 years have brought about a far greater understanding between the two disciplines. With their holistic approach to health care, chiropractors often straddle the divide between traditional and clearly alternative medicine.
“These days a lot of people are not into taking drugs for aches and pains, so they’re willing to try something different,” said Dr. Sam Nijmeh, a chiropractor in Gilroy. “In the past, a lot of chiropractors promised to work on just about anything. In my practice, I feel we have our own place in the health care system and I do refer patients to the appropriate doctor if I think it’s a problem that’s out of my range.”
More than a third of all Americans have to seek some sort of professional advice for a back problem each year, according to a 1994 study by research firm Harris and Associates, so back problems do make up the bulk of the chiropractic specialty. Some of the other problems chiropractors can help to treat range from whiplash to sciatica, headaches, and musculo-skeletal problems. Nijmeh treats all ages, from small children to one patient who is nearly 100 years old.
“I started off my practice pretty much in sports injuries,” he said. “There are people who just come in for maintenance – athletes or people who have had chiropractic work in the past. A lot of people seem to relate chest pain to their lungs or their heart and it ends up being their musculo-skeletal system. A lot of people who think they have carpal tunnel may just have adjustment problems, too.”
Poor candidates for traditional, manual manipulation chiropractic work would include people with advanced cancers who are undergoing chemotherapy and those with osteoporosis. Soft tissue techniques can be applied, however,
to benefit the skeletal system indirectly and some chiropractors use “water, light, massage, ultrasound, electric, and heat therapy,” to treat symptoms rather than relying solely on adjustment.
Chiropractic adjustment might not be your cup of tea, but if you haven’t looked into it lately it might be time to reconsider. More than 50,000 are currently practicing in the United States and more than 31 million people visit a practitioner each year. For more information on chiropractic work or to locate a chiropractic physician near you, visit the American Chiropractic Association’s Web site at www.AmerChiro.org.
