Has anyone tried a chiropractor for neuropathy?

My 65 year old husband does have back issues – normal “wear and tear” disc degeneration and he was hit on the lower back/hip area 40+ years ago by a large industrial machine.

However, the chiro he went to has told him he could improve his neuropathy over the course of 1+ years of manipulation.

This obviously involves a fairly large sum of money, which if we thought it would help we would be able to find. There wasn’t any huge pressure from the doctor, and he is registered!

But……..is it worth it? We’d be interested in anyone’s experiences with this.

Thank you, Linda

I would not sign on for any set time of treatment.. there might be fast results or no results, you might find that it is not helping at all and would like the option to stop going..
Any set or contract time frame is a bit suspicious to me..

And does this chiro only do adjustments?

The one I went to used many modalities like ultrasound, low level laser, NIMMO, IF stim, upper cervical adjusting...
I went for RSI/TOS and general wellness.

I suggest finding a multi skilled DC that does a mix of therapies and does not require any set time frame...

were to be covered in the outcome of a lawsuit so the Chiro worked for six months twice a week with no payment. The Chiro could not "crack" my back but his wife did deep tissue massage that chased my pain around and made me feel better. He had a TENS unit that helped inflamation in my knees. In hindsight if I had to pay the bill, I would not have done it. As a matter of fact, I went to SW Medical Center in Dallas and my Neuro told me to not let the Chiro "crack" my neck anymore. Good Luck, Ken in Texas. P.S. My lawyer's paralegal set me up with the Chiro in the beginning so I don't know whether or not there is a fox and henhouse involved here. Good Luck, Ken in Texas.

The problems is you'll never know for sure. No one can really predict your response to a treatment. I too wouldn't commit to a year financially. My husband did have a positive response on some aspects of the neuropathy with the first treatment. The biggest being his gait. He went in walking funny, came out walking normal. It did help the PN but did not resolve it. In his case, he needed a multi-facetted approach. They also restored his balance. He was also breathing funny at night when sleeping and after they adjusted a rib that was out of place, it too was resolved.

His chiro used an activator to adjust his spine which is a pretty gently approach. You're not being manipulated and for lack of a better term "cracked". The rib had to be done the old fashion way though.

I've had a lower back issue since I was 18 and now at 77 a lot of degeneration. I've gone to chiros for many years and they kept me going. Now I cannot do manipulations due to a mess from hip replacement which caused Femoral Nerve Damage which I deal with now. My thigh is about 80% numb, dead or very damaged nerves.

I'm back with a new chiro, but would NEVER sign up for so many treatments, etc. She uses laser, ultrasound, activator and stim and works the numb thigh too. As I see it, she does help me somewhat and Medicare does come thru. She charges new medicare patients a fee upfront and then accepts the meager payments from Medicare...and they are meager for all some of these workers do to try to help people in so much distress. I pay $9 per visit to her.

So you did get some good comments and if the nerves can be restored, don't know.

I've mentioned that I had success with Inosine and Sphingolin which took away the burn/tingle on my thigh. I took both for 3 months and so far so good. The burning was there for 5 yrs.

I do know that I often get TOE pain/burn some nights and all on the damaged side of my body. I have to get out of bed and rub my feet/toes and apply some of my topicals to get back to sleep. No burn or pain during the day but comes on while sleeping. Best wishes..

I would beware of any chiropractic practice that wants you to "sign on" for a specific amount of time. I go for chiropractic adjustments regularly. They are covered by my insurance minus my co-pay. They have never requested me to make any commitment. I just call like I would any other practicioner, when I want to get in for an appointment.
I don't think chiropractic adjustments would make a difference in your neuropathy, unless the nerve damage is coming from something in your spine. If that is the case you should know this from EMG/NCV testing.
I find the adjustments beneficial because my gait is off due to the neuropathy and it helps keep things alligned.

Thanks to everyone that has given me their thoughts and experiences. We have decided to not go ahead with this - the long term commitment seems very suspect!

He did take Xrays and certainly the lower back and neck seemed quite out of alignment, but we're beginning to wonder if they were even my husbands X-rays

Thanks again, Linda

I would get x rays independently, or have your primary dr order them and then get a copy to take to any possible DC appts.