the Price of Routine Chiropractic Adjustments

The chiropractor offers a variety of adjustments intended to help pain and "energy," whatever that means. The services all cost about the same and, by law, are covered by most insurance plans. The $10 represents the co-pay, though visits cost $70 without insurance. Weekly treatment was recommended by this chiropractor, which could bring the total cost of a year's visits to over $3600 for the uninsured.

I couldn't be less happy. I laid face-down on the table and the woman worked her hands up my spine, pausing occasionally to crack my back. When she reached my neck she had me roll over and moved my head around. Apparently unsatisfied with the way it moved she gave it a sharp jerk left then another right and I felt something let go painfully in my neck. I screamed and an ambulance was called. After seeing a real doctor I'm told some of the cartilage between the base of my skull and the top of my first vertebra had sheared off and the painful crunching noise I now hear as I turn my head is crepitus as the bones of the skull and vertebra grind against eachother. We're considering litigation.

Don't go to chiropractors. It's just not worth the expense for what amounts to a mediocre massage that has the potential of causing serious damage to very sensitive areas of the body. If you do go, make sure the chiropractor stays away from your neck.