Manipulation by unlicensed persons

OK. I'm going on a little rant here for a minute. Here's some logic that escapes me totally. I treat a lot of patients with low force manipulation/adjustments because they don't like to be popped. That is totally understandable. When I bought my practice, it was the majority of my patients. Low force techniques are quite successful as well. Yet, many of these same patients will let a massage therapist pop them (a high force technique). So, here's the rub. You will let an untrained person, with no manipulation or diagnostic training perform a procedure that can cause injury if not done correctly, manipulate or adjust you (pop if you will) but you don't want someone who spent 4 years learning how to do it properly and is trained to know when not to do a manipulation.

I'm sorry folks, I'm not picking on anyone but that logic absolutely escapes me. What are you go to do if they injure you? Their malpractice will not cover them for a procedure outside their scope of practice. They are not licensed to manipulate or adjust. They don't know the contraindications for manipulation or how to determine if you are a stroke risk. They have mostly learned manipulation by observation or trial and error. Do you want to be one of the errors? This is as risky as letting uncle Joe pop your neck or your buddy do the bear hug back popping.

I often see these people, and have seen more of them lately, after they've been popped by their local massage therapist-and then they wonder why it takes so long to fix them. They were injured by an incorrectly done and improperly and illegally done procedure. I've also treated many patients who were "popped" by friends with bad results. Here's just a few of the problems I've seen by unlicensed people popping someone: strains, sprains, rotator cuff tear, frozen shoulder, disc injury. This is serious stuff folks. If you have a contraindication, you could be seriously injured.

The only licensed doctors qualified to perform manipulation are doctors of chiropractic and doctors of osteopathy. Occasionally, a MD will have some training. Physical therapists in some states are allowed to perform some manipulations but mostly their training is not as comprehensive and generally consists of weekend seminars and online training for manual therapy (not a bias - just the facts from their program websites). Manipulation can be very safe when done by qualified health care providers; however, it can also be very damaging when not performed by licensed providers. I know they mean well, however. . . . . . .

By the way, the rant is because I just worked on another patient that was injured by a local massage therapist-one of many this month and last month. Hence my rant.