Undt Now Vee Use De RAY GUN

[tugrik]

I went back to the chiropractor for the first time in years and years. It's not going to be cheap (my new insurance is chiro-unfriendly, which is weird for California), but I can tell after only one visit that it's really going to help. At least I have a medical savings account this year that'll help defray the costs a bit.

Due to my size it's often hard for ol' Doc Bonecracker to 'adjust' me. This time he tried a new tool that I'd not seen before. It's called a "tapper" if I heard him right. Think of it as a miniature jack-hammer with two little teflon points on it that can be width-adjusted. The doc dials the width to surround the joint he's working on, presses it against and then it goes BangBangBangBang at about 12Hz. Instead of twisting the patient this way and that to use strain and sudden-motion to move a joint, this literally 'taps' the joint into position by angling the tool and pressing as it runs.

It feels funky as heck. It also feels goooood.

The silly part is that it looks like a pulp-era SciFi ray gun; something you'd expect Flash Gordon to be holding on a movie poster. He used it on my upper mid-back, ribs and neck. At first it's just like being thumped on, but when he presses it in you can feel the joint move a little, just without the usual 'pop' of an adjustment. It's both nifty and relaxing compared to having someone try to play Twist-a-Tug.

Comments

[perlandria.livejournal.com]

My guy has one of those. I LURVS it.
My guy is also about 6'4". If you are just going to that Dr. 'cus he is convenient, I can recommend my guy?

[punktiger.livejournal.com]

Ah! That little jack-hammer is called an "Activator." My sister's a chiropractor and she swears by them. She's very adept in Activator methods. By the sound of it, your chiropractor has you in good hands.

[colsongrainger.livejournal.com]

Actually, take this from a former chiropractor, you're going to a quack, in my opinion.

Activator methods or use of the arthrostim is crap. There's very little proven benefit from either of them and a comparative study found manual manipulation to have much, much better outcomes than either of those (in one case, I don't remember which one, it was about 50% better).

When it comes down to it, though, if you're getting relief, good for you, and keep going. But if it gets to the point where you plateau or pain returns, seek help elsewhere. Honestly, you need some hardcore myofascial release, Rolfing, ART, whatever, and none of those require manual manipulation, which has limited benefits anyway.

[wordslinger.livejournal.com]

That actually sounds like something I'd love to try!!

[kakoukorakos.livejournal.com]

I haven't been to a chiropractor in a lotta years, but mine had something similar to that, only mechanical. It was sort of like a syringe, but instead of dispensing liquids, pushing the plunger in engaged a ratchet mechanism which, at the end of its travel, caused the tip to deliver a thump. Definitely a lot more controlled than trying to wrench someone's back or neck around manually.