Chiropractics and RSD...Pain Relief?
 

Hi All,
I know I don't post alot (cause my hands hurt so much and it is painful for me to sit up typing) but I do try to read every few days or so to keep up-to-date. I laugh when you laugh and cry when you all cry.

I see there is some mentioning of chiropractic treatments here. I have had my full-body rsd (and Fibro) for over four years now and have used a chiropractor for two years of it and see a huge improvement in pain and function. However, the insurance co does not see any improvements and is cancelling my care. Now, I have to go to court and represent myself because I want to continue it. I've been told that chiropractics and RSD don't go together and I am lucky I received it for as long as I did...yet it helps me so much. I see a great chiropractor who doesn't do the "crack you and your out the door" thing. She does many different types of fascia work and PT with me. She has enabled me to walk again. How does everyone feel about chiropractics and any ideas on how I can keep continuing to use it in my future and get workers comp to pay for it. I went six months without it and I've gone down the tubes. I appreciate all your help.

I have to let you all know that when I have a terrible day and no one seems to understand I check out this site and most of the time I find someone who feels as though I do and then some. Thanks for all your help with this daily battle of RSD. You all are the best and I pray for your healing.
Take care,
kathy d:hug: :grouphug:

Hi Kathy,
 

I've never been a fan of chiropractors but I think it's up to each person on what they find that works.

My daughter just wasted a month going to one and finally broke down and went to our Dr. about her back.

I went to an Osteopathic Dr. years ago and she's the reason I am in the shape I am in today. She popped all my bones and caused me to have TOS and RSD on the right side. When I went to her I only had it in the left. My PCP sent me to her only for a diagnoses. He ask her if she would help diagnose me because he knew her. She really did a job on me. I tried to sue her but the attorneys said that my case was too complicated. At the time RSD was even less known.

It sounds like your Chiropractor knows other treatments besides just popping bones. I don't think it matters what kind of Dr. you go to just so they don't make you worse.

Ada

I don't think chiropractors are able to treat RSD, neither are PTs. It takes a slew of different approaches (chiropractors and PTs might help), but they mostly involve medication, nerve blocks, infusions and such.

RSD needs medical treatment. Whatever else you do that works for you, works for you.

It took 7 years for my rsd diagnoses. During that time, and long after, my chiropractor kept me moving. He was in fact, the person who realized I had rsd! And, sent me to dr S.
He's very gentle. Not just popping bones, but slowly stretching. Using the hot packs, cold packs electric stim, whatever he needed. Gentle massage.
He gave me a far improved range of motion, with less pain.
Osteopathic doctors are too "Rough".
But a good, gentle chiropractor who understands rsd and tos, can do a great job in taking away some day to day misery!

Pete
ASB

Hello Kathy,

I would be strung out on meds if it were not for my chiropractor. He DX me and has been treating me for 8 years. I got very lucky and bought an insurance that he offered I pay 217.00 per month. It covers a family of 4 and all the treatments and x-rays that are needed. This plan was a blessing from God.
I have full body RSD it has effected my lungs and heart. I see my chiropractor 3 days a week and sometimes 5 if I am flaired (he no longer offers the insurance) I went to Philly to see an RSD research doctor. He said chiropractic care is the best things I can do for myself. He is an activator chiropractor he uses a small spring loaded instrument to adjust my spine. I am too tender for him to use his hands. His adjustments really help with the chronic fatige.
It works for me and I am glad I found my DC.
Take care,
Sherrie

First... remember.... no two of us with RSD/CRPS are the same, we don't have the same symptoms, same locations, same anything other than the name. Nor do we react the same to medicines, therapies, or treatments.


If it weren't for my Chiropractor, I wouldn't be here.... HE IS THE ONLY ONE ABLE TO GET MY PAIN LEVELS TO GO DOWN AT ALL!!!! I am severely allergic to ALL narcotic pain medicines.


I say do what is best for you... If Chiropractic brings you relief, then by all means FIGHT your insurance company!!! Ask your Chiro if they will testify or write a letter to the judge on your behalf.


I wish you the best!!!
Abbie

Thanks all for your help with the chiropractics suggestions. I appreciate your input. I just sent all the paperwork in to fight the works comp for me to keep my chirop. (and I am taking her to court with me this time)...and yesterday I got a ltr in the mail from ins saying they want to review me having to have Ketamine treatment done!!! I have only been waiting over two and a half years for this treatment and NOW they are questioning me to have it done. I just sat and cried yesterday. I don't know what they could say since they can't claim my chiropractor made me much better because they are refusing to pay that bill. I don't know how these people sleep at night. Thanks for all your help and ideas. The fight marches on.
Take care,
kathy d:mad:

hi my name is maryam71 i just recently been diagnosed with rsd my orthopedic surgeon did 3 surgeries on my left foot they say i should be walking in about 6-8 months it does not look like that will happen my foot is sensitive to touch, heat, cold i cant even sleep with a sheet on it i just started walking this week i had the surgery on may6,2009 none of my meds help for the pain i lost all muscle tone in my calf my leg is very week.i know it will be difficult to walk because my big toe does not even move my surgery i had was tendon transfer,bunion osteo,and calcaneal osteo ,they cut the heal bone moved it over and put two screws in place and to hold it together my foot does not feel like it belongs to me my foot is off balance what i really need is a good doctor do you have any ideas im thinking of seeing an chiropractor can they help control my rsd pain thank you maryam71
:)

Is there a way that the kind of therapy she is performing could be coded so that is WOULD be acceptable to WC? Like so many of the replies above explained, there are different types of chiropractic care. She is performing "fascia and PT." On the medical forms for payment there are certain codes that are universally used these days for payment. Even though a chiropractor is doing the work, can you use the PT code? WC might not give you such a hard time under those circumstances.

But then again, its WC and they stink big time.

Its awful that you've been forced to go six months without a therapy that helped you. When WC denied my PT, I used my personal insurance to pay for coverage until it was reinstated. (I still have not been reimbursed for my co-pays).

I am currently hoping that I can get into a ketamine program in Boston or NY in the next year, before I've had RSD too long. I still need to educate my kids. I know it won't work forever, and there are risks. But its typically more successful in cases where RSDers haven't been sick for a really long time. Plus, my RSD is in my head, which is probably the worst place you could get it, because my head hurts all the time. I think you are really lucky to have an opportunity to at least try it. For some people it is a godsend.

Even with ketamine, I think you will still need your therapy, though, so persist in getting your therapist (i.e.-chiropractor) back. It's just a matter of semantics.

Good luck to you, Sandy

chiropratic works for me
 

Hi All, I have crps/rsd since about three years from a front car accident in my upper extrem. Also whiplash. Low back pain. A little over two years ago I found a great chiropractor. He is also a massage therapist. I am much better after he treats me. He treats my whole body including arms, elbows, hands. I recommend chiropractic for crps/rsd but it has to be a doctor that is more informed and is up-to-date on other issues about the body. My chiropractor is also a professor of anatomy and physiology at a college. I have seen three other chiropractors that actually hurt me or did hardly anything. I hope in the future that chiropractic care will become more accepted by the medical community. My health ins so far paid for about 10 month in lieu of physical therapy. They might stop any time. If they do I will find ways to continue. Where there is a will, there is away. I am not taking any drugs and am glad I don't have to because my pain is so reduced with chiropractic now. :grouphug:

Kathy,

A multi-disciplinary approach is often needed and recommended with CRPS.

I have CRPS in my foot, diagnosed in 2008, a byproduct of multiple surgeries.

I have seen a dozen doctors, disregarded half of them who hadn't a clue, and have used the information, recommendation and treatment of the others to help me manage my condition.

I have a pain mgmt. doctor for meds, a podiatrist to deal with actual foot issues, a chiropractor which helps me deal with compensatory pain up to and including the hip because of my "altered gait" for such a long time. I also use a massage therapist, but only infrequently.

My chiropractor is possibly the most knowledgeable of all. And his treatment helps me greatly.

With the above professionals, I have come up with a daily routine of stretches, exercises, baths, that have worked quite well. I spend 3 hours every day religiously working on my CRPS. I am one of the lucky ones, who is able to have a relatively normal life with this condition, although I had to file, and was recently approved for SSDI. I am thankful for that.

Bottom line is as mentioned, this is such an individual condition, that you need to determine what works for you. And then continue to tweak it as necessary. And fight for coverage!

PT is VERY VERY important! It keeps you moving.

I have been suffering from Chronic Pain since a skiing injury back in 1998 and since then have been diagnosed with RSD/Fybro however when I got some new X-Rays from a Chiropractor since I am looking for other ways to treat my pain instead of meds, they found a few pinched nerves one in my lower back....

I am wondering if this maybe what has caused most of my pain all of these years.. I did my first adjustment today and they have a huge rollout of things we are going to be doing in the next few months... I hope this can help me, I am so tired of the PAIN and the MEDS... Fingers are Crossed.

Williamrock,

I have had RSD/Chronic Pain since a roller blading accident in 2003. My husband always wants me to go to a chiropractor and just try it. He went for many years for his back prior to having 3 back surgeries. Most of my pain, which is under control but I do have times of flares, is related to nerve damage and I have limited use of my right arm. I never thought chiropractic care would help. After many years of treatments, medication, more treatments and more medications I have come to the conclussion the less meds. the better. To be fair I did have success with Ketamine therapy and that is what got me to a point where I could get off the medication and stapled me off to where I am today.The 2 things that I would love to get under better control are the headaches and the sleeping. I do get headaches which sometimes lead to a migraine and sleep forget it, I have the worst sleep pattern ever. Prior to this injury I was a great sleeper.

I would so appreciate your input as you go through treatments with the chiropractor.

Good luck, I wish you much success.

Gabbycakes

Gabbycakes, is there a possibility that your headaches are caused by TMJ? Or is it a result of a neck injury resulting in tight muscles of the head and neck from the roller blading accident? Sleeping, boy, if you come up with a good answer let me know!

nyt2,

I have thought of that and have asked my dentist, because it is common for the women in my family to grind there teeth. My mom wore a mouth guard and my daughter does grind sometimes. The headaches always start in my arm/elbow and go up. Also the headaches are always right sided, I can draw a line right down my face that's how right sided it is. The right is my RSD side.

I had serious ulnar nerve damage as a result of my injury and had to have a ulnar nerve transposition. The ulnar nerve is connected to the c8 - t1 in the spine and runs right up your arm through the shoulder into the neck to the spine. I believe it's the largest unprotected nerve in the body by unprotected it's not covered in muscle and tissue. My surgeon and a ton of reading on ulnar nerve problems is how I know all this, I'm just a bookkeeper.

Prior to my ketamine procedures I would get headaches all the time and some would go into migraines, which is horrible.

I appreciate the response. Hope you are having pain freel days with all this horrible weather we have been having on the east coast.

Thanks again,

Gabbycakes

I have had the best physio from a chiropractor. She is excellent and works very hard at keeping my mobility and flexion from deteriorating. Her care is one to one. I know she is an exception but if she is out there then there are others too. Many of my previous physio treatments from a physiotherapist were very poor. The physio would have a couple other patients and spent very little time with me but had no problem charging $75 per visit. The chiropractor has a strong knowledge base that I found lacking in physiotherapists. My chiro is not afraid to touch me. She really is trying to help me. Anyway that is my input. Take care everyone. Hope your days are peaceful and fairly comfortable as can be.






know I don't post alot (cause my hands hurt so much and it is painful for me to sit up typing) but I do try to read every few days or so to keep up-to-date. I laugh when you laugh and cry when you all cry.

I see there is some mentioning of chiropractic treatments here. I have had my full-body rsd (and Fibro) for over four years now and have used a chiropractor for two years of it and see a huge improvement in pain and function. However, the insurance co does not see any improvements and is cancelling my care. Now, I have to go to court and represent myself because I want to continue it. I've been told that chiropractics and RSD don't go together and I am lucky I received it for as long as I did...yet it helps me so much. I see a great chiropractor who doesn't do the "crack you and your out the door" thing. She does many different types of fascia work and PT with me. She has enabled me to walk again. How does everyone feel about chiropractics and any ideas on how I can keep continuing to use it in my future and get workers comp to pay for it. I went six months without it and I've gone down the tubes. I appreciate all your help.

I have to let you all know that when I have a terrible day and no one seems to understand I check out this site and most of the time I find someone who feels as though I do and then some. Thanks for all your help with this daily battle of RSD. You all are the best and I pray for your healing.
Take care,
kathy d:hug: :grouphug:[/QUOTE]

I have a wonderful NEURO chiropractor. Believe or not a neuro chiropractor right here in river city little town usa. She is Brilliant. Honestly she should be in Harvard. Even though my RSD has spread I think it has slowed because of her. I cant say enough about her. She spends endless time researching this disease from a hollistic approach. She hates that I on meds but understands that we need to work with in the beginning in order to try to get a handle on it to try and turn this thing around. She says the biggest thing is stress. Stress is the food this demon feeds on. You have to have a low stress life to start with. If there are any stresses in your life they need to go..Her name is Ala Smith and she is at Smith Chiropractic in our little river city of Fergus Falls Mn. Wow I sound like a commercial..really not meaning to do that because shes that good.

Hey Krank,

I'm just down I-94 from you near Melrose MN! And I couldn't agree more with how stress affects CRPS. I have noticed that a few of my worst flares directly correlated with high stress. I have a mother with Alzheimer's and about 5 other chronic conditions, so some of you can relate to what that can mean to your stress level, on top of handling the challenges of CRPS.

I'm glad to hear you have a great chiropractor nearby. I have a great one in Sauk Centre too (Dr. John Welle) It really is hit and miss with this profession. Some are good, some are okay, and there are a few that can make things worse if they don't understand your unique condition. The one thing I would stress when picking professionals is to shop around. You do NOT have to settle for the first name you come across in the yellow pages. If you don't "click" with the doctor, chiro, therapist, etc....... then keep making appointments with others until you do. It is a PROCESS for most of us. I would say it took me about a year to pick my team. And I'm happy with every one of them.

In fact, I have to make an appt. with my Chiro today! It is the treatment I look forward to the MOST.

Hang in there!

Need a name
 

Dear Sherry,
I am a chiropractor in Delaware that has been recently working on a patient with RSD and have had really solid results with her so far. I'm in a battle with her workers compensation company and need to gather research. I saw that you wrote that you went to a Neuorlogist in Philadelphia that said chiropractic is great for RSD. I wanted to know if you would give me his name, so I can contact him myself to see if he knows of research that validates chiropractic's role in the treatment of RSD. Thankf for your help,

Dr. McDermott

Dr Robert Schwartzman.
He dx'd me after my Chriro sent me to him.That was after 7 years and literally more than 100 doctors, back in the 80's when nobody knew what rsd was/is.

Now, I'm amazed that in Philly, almost every doctor is well aware of it.

I worked with Dr S, and my attorney (Not WC), and broke all records for a settlement with RSD. I later (as God would have it) met the fellow from the ins. company who settled my case (signed the check), and he was telling me about this crazy new disease, (a case he had just settled) that must be cured very quickly, if at all. I shook his hand, and told him that he was talking about me. Told him my name, and he knew. This was in the FLA Keys. Far from where we both live.
Believe me, these insurance companies know what RSD is, the first time you mention it. All their adjusters are aware, and they love to deny, deny, deny.
Thank your politicians, for accepting all the ins company special interest money. (I maybe shouldn't of said that?)
After all, it IS the Big companies like Nationwide, State Farm, Allstate, etc. that WRITE our Ins. law!

What to do?
FIGHT YOUR BATTLE!
DON'T GIVE UP! Problem is, that good attorneys are tough to find. If they have an ad in the YP's, stay away. A good lawyer will only have a listing. Usually, the bigger the ad though...... They're just 'settling' lawyers, not trial lawyers. You MUST have a trial attorney! One who will build the case. And, drive You through your own pain!

Pete
asb

I agree about the Chiro. I know everyone is different with their RSD and responses to treatments. I agree, if it works and helps you out, go for it. I too have a wonderful Chiro, who has helped me through this. Good luck with your fight for coverage with the chiro. It is very frustrating, when you see some relief from Chiro and they say they wont cover you. So sorry you need to deal with that. Hang in there.

I have found that one of the best things is massage therapy if you can find someone who will work with you on your pain levels. Also, my chiropractor does slow stretching before adjustments and then uses a pro adjuster which is a much nicer form of adjusting. I would never recommend manipulations, but gentle Pro Adjuster. Prayers.

Hey ask my mother she goes to her chiropractor to cure the flu!!!!! me I will never go back after two chiropractors caused me weeks issues with my back when I was younger.. now massage sure just not on red. but I would be willing to try acupuncture therapy

chiro and RSD
 

I agree with a gentle chiro can help with your day to day misery. My chiro who has been beneficial in my diagnosis of RSD, has been experimenting with cold laser. Some days I do not find a lot of relief but other days I can have a few to four hours of reduced pain. In my eyes, that is better then nothing. Take care
Beth

needing some advice and support...
 

Hi :) I have had RSD/CRPS for 12 years now. I sprained my left ankle when i was 11, was finally diagnosed 2years after the injury, and it traveled to my whole left leg, both hips and lower back. I have tried everything from nerve block shots, epidurals, physical therapy (which it made me worst), and i also have the spinal cord stimulator. For the last 2years i have had a doctor up in decatur, il give me nerve block shots every few months. i didnt and still dont understand why he wanted me to have them so often..i think it just wore me out and drained me more then what was needed.
anyways..the last week i have been seeing a chiropractor, and he hasnt been just popping me (btw he popped a spot in my back that was amazing lol) i have only had 3apts and its killing my body. i was told i would get worst before better. but i didnt think it would bother me this much..i know i havnt had a lot of movement in years, and understand it will take awhile to get all that back to normal. i guess what i wanna know is how was it for everyone when they first started with the chiropractor. i dont have too many people in my life that understands this..hell most of them dont even try to understand but im just needings some reassuring good news to help me stay positive

Hi Jes, so sorry you got RSD so very young. As you have read from all the posts, it's so different for everyone- and even depends on the chiro. For me physical therapy is what helped me regain use of my limbs and regain mobility. I've had this since '96 and now full body.
Keep us posted how you are doing. loretta:)