12/28/2006

Chairs and backs

Filed under: — Aprille @ 4:39 pm

Office chairs are expensive.  We got to pick out new chairs for our new offices, and I guess they’re throwing us a bone by getting us super-nice chairs since we have to be in cubicles.  Still, I wonder if it’s really worth it to have an $800 chair.  I’d rather have $780 tacked onto my computer budget and sit on a beanbag.

On another topic (OR IS IT??), what does everybody think about chiropractors?  My cousin is one, and she (naturally) swears by chiropractic treatments.  I’ve never had one.  I imagine they’re more useful for some situations than others.  My left side is a little weird; my left knee hurts a little when I run on it a lot, and I cansometimes feel pain radiating into my left hip and the left side of my lower back.  I wonder if that’s the sort of thing that would be helped by a chiropractic adjustment.

I follow a very middle-of-the-road approach when it comes to medicine.  I agree with my cousin when she says that a lot of drugs are over-prescribed (and I’ve certainly witnessed doctors prescribing drug after drug after drug to treat the side effects of the other drugs) and that a holistic approach is smart.  Still, I’m glad for all the advances science has made, such as the fact that my generation has never had polio as a concern. Drugs can be dang useful.

So…yeah.  Chiropractics:  helpful, or a bunch of bunk, when viewed in the context of a person whose left knee and hip and back sometimes hurt?

11 responses to “Chairs and backs”

  1. Linds says:

    well, there is no such thing as “a chiropractic adjustment.” thats the thing, you have to keep going and going and going, which is part of why i think so many people think its quackery. my boss goes sometimes up to three times per week, a former co-worker at least once a week, and the problems do not get fixed, else they wouldnt have to go that often i would think?

  2. Dot says:

    it works for a lot of people; but you’ve got to go often. And often, chiropractors treat things that you can’t fix–like, my mom is helped by it (at least to a degree) b/c one side of her body is longer than the other, and you can’t really “fix” that, you can just kinda keep realigning things so it’s not so painful. It’s more like massage therapy than taking an antibiotic or having surgery to fix a problem–you gotta keep doing it. But, on the flip side, a number of people I know started having to go like 3x a week or whatever, but then after awhile, can maintain feeling good with only having 1-2 adjustments a month.

    Many chiropractors offer a free assessment to tell you what’s up, and then they have like a monthly “plan” where you pay a set monthly amount, but you can go for as many visits as you want.

  3. Bob Cuddy says:

    My problem was pain from a herniated neck disk. Among my different aspects of my life it was a severe problem during a vacation at the beach while lying on my stomach in the sun with my head turned to the side to breathe. I ultimately invented and patented the SquidFace and ComfyRest pillows to relieve my pain. These pillows enable me to lie facedown comfortably and breathe without turning my head to the side. Unexpected benefits of these pillows are snoring relief; Neck, shoulder and back muscle tension relief; sinus, migraine, ear pain, snoring and more. Stomach sleepers are finding their backs feel better after using these pillows. Many of the benefits are on my website. http://www.SquidFace.com

  4. Aprille says:

    Weird. Is that spam or not? Confusing.

  5. Linds says:

    do you know that guy? cause if not, best comment spam ever!

  6. Aprille says:

    No idea who that guy is. I must admit, his product is pretty intriguing, though.

  7. jack says:

    Hey, comment spam can be left by actual humans who happened to come here via a Google search, so who knows? I have definitely had some odd comments from people who hit my blog accidentally, via Google.

    That’s awful quick turnaround for a search engine, though.

    But back to the topic at hand: I don’t know a thing about chiropractory (what’s the actual word that goes there?) but as long as you’re pondering a bit of alternative “medicine”, I’m going to go ahead and plug yoga. I have longstanding problems with my right knee (it gets all creaky and stiff), and with sciatica-esque pain shooting down my left leg, starting at the hip and left lower back.

    Yoga fixes it. The end.

    Well, “fixes” is too strong. Yoga is meant to be practiced regularly, and I have noted that if I skip a few days, both problems start to resurface. The advantage compared to chiropractology is that I can do a spot of yoga in my bare feet and p-js right before jumping in the shower or going to bed, and I don’t have to pay anyone for the privilege.

    The library has zillions of yoga books, several of which spend some time calling out specific yoga postures to help with things like joint pain and back pain.

    ::phew:: Ok, time for me to give up the podium to those waiting in the wings to extol the virtues of acupuncture and homeopathy.

  8. Tana says:

    A couple of years ago I had a very sore shoulder. I happened to be in the city where your cousin was visiting her parents. She did an adjustment, and *poof* my pain was gone. I had been in pain for 3 or 4 days. Normally I’m a huge skeptic, and I wouldn’t see a chiropracter for just anything, but it is certainly great for some types of pain. (your cousin is great for many other reasons, too!)

  9. Strong Bad says:

    I believe Penn & Teller said chiropractors were bunk on their show “BS,” but I also believe there’s a certain amount of mind over matter in everything, so the important thing is that if it works for you do it. As for medicine, I’m not a straightedger, but I do believe that less is more and that if antibiotics are overprescribed it just builds up a resistance among deadly diseases and makes them that much more dangerous.

  10. BillH says:

    I used to think chiropractic was BS. Then, I got a job at Palmer College of Chiropractic computer tech support. One of the benefits was free adjustments. Yeah, you have to go back at least once a month, but insurance usually helps cover that cost. The free adjustments opened my eyes. No, it is not a cure-all or a replacement for medical care, but chiropractic has its place in the medical profession.

    True Story 1: I had a really bad cold and went to work anyway (I can be a trooper sometimes). When I went in for an adjustment, the chiro said he could help out the congestion in my head. I thought, “Yeah, right!”. He then gave me a few tissues saying I’d need them. He did some kind of adjustment on my neck. The next thing I know I’ve got all the congestion running out my nose – thank God he gave me the tissues or my shirt would have been ruined. And, I could breathe!! It lasted as long or longer than the sudafed I was taking, so it was a good thing.

    True Story 2: One of the system programmers at Palmer had a son who had scoliosis so bad that at when he was 4 the doctors told her that her son would need a series of operations and would spend most of his adult life in a body splint for his back. She got three other opinions from MD’s and OD’s with the same results. She then asked a chiro at Palmer and he had her bring the son in. It took about five years of adjustments; early on it was daily, later it was weekly. The end result was that he was healed. Healed enough to play high school football and be accepted by the Marines.

    On to the chairs – I now work in tech support for HNI Corporation. We own HON, Allsteel and a few other office furniture brands. Believe me, you’ll notice the difference between a really good chair and an average chair. NEVER settle for the cheap. You will be spending more time in that chair than in your home or in your car, so lasting comfort is what you want. Those cheap chairs you get at retail stores are just that – cheap. You’re back, neck, legs and butt will be hurting if you get one of those. (If I had my choice of ANY chair, I’d get the Allsteel #19; it has an MSRP of $1200)

  11. Hi bud would it be ok if we took some info from here to use on one of our blogs? all the best

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