Dr. Barker performed X-rays of and adjusted my lower back, diagnosed me as having a leg-length inequality, created treatment plans, and performed electric stimulation.
Around 12 months ago I had a friend recommend Sam Barker to me for some lower back pain I had been experiencing from a herniated disc in my lower back. Rather than seeing the chiropractor, I followed the care instructions from my orthopedic physician and my back pain went away. Recently, however, I injured my right hip playing sports and felt as if my body was a little out-of-whack. I finally decided that I would visit Dr. Barker to see what he could do for me. The first visit was professional and he sat down with me and listened to my concerns and X-rays were taken. The following week he showed me my X-rays and explained that I had one leg that was shorter than the other (referred to as a leg-length discrepancy or LLD). He also told me that my body had compensated by tilting two of the disks in my lower back. He told that I would need a heel lift (orthotic) for my shoe to compensate for the length difference as well as some chiropractic adjustments. He wrote up two plans of treatment. One for $1,000.00 that included 90 days care (22 visits) and another for $1200.00 that included 1 year of care (31 visits). While he went over the plans with me it felt as though I was dealing with a used car salesman. Since I like to understand what's going on with my body, I decided to research the issue of leg length discrepancies to see what the latest peer reviewed scientific research had to say about it. I was able to find some very good articles published in several peer reviewed journals. While reading this research I discovered that leg-length discrepancies (LLD’s) are present in 90% of the population. One study of 2,978 people even found that 20% had a LLD equal to or more severe than my own. Also none of these studies found any strong evidence for a correlation between LLD’s and back or hip pain. Orthotics were only recommended in people who had 1” or more of discrepancy that was the result of hip or leg surgery. That was over twice the difference that I have! Nothing I read in the scientific research seemed to agree with Dr. Barker or his treatment. After researching the issue I felt as though I should see a podiatrist who was also an orthotic’s specialist who deals with corrections in leg-length discrepancies to get a second opinion. He was very surprised by the treatments that Dr. Barker recommended. The podiatrist informed me that my body had already compensated for the length difference and that if I followed Dr. Barker’s treatment that my body would then be forced to compensate for the heel lift which would increase the likelihood of injuring myself. I was also told that the method used to measure my leg-length differences was not valid enough to be used as a basis for the treatment that Dr. Barker suggested. I felt as though I was being conned by Dr. Barker into paying for treatment that the scientific community as well as other medical professionals felt was completely unnecessary. I visited Dr. Barker one last time to tell him that I had decided to forgo his treatment plans because I hadn’t been experiencing back pain. He then offered me a complimentary adjustment before leaving. The adjustment seemed unusually rough and left me with a lot of lower back pain that persisted through the next week. It seemed to me like he was trying to cause me back pain so that I would feel like I needed his services to alleviate it. So there are several reasons that I rated Dr. Barker with an F. First, he was completely uninformed regarding the issue of leg-length discrepancies and the necessity for treatment. The informed scientific community that studies this issue completely disagrees with him about the necessity of his recommended treatments. Second, during a second opinion from an orthotics specialist I learned that Dr. Barker’s recommended treatment using orthotics would actually through off my body’s alignment and increase the forces on my foot leading to a higher risk of further injury. Following through with Dr. Barker’s treatment plan would have cost me upwards of $1,200.00 and would have been detrimental to my health. It appears that Dr. Barker has found an issue that is common in the general population that requires no treatment but is an easy sell ($$$) to those patients who haven’t done their research. I would not recommend Dr. Barker to anyone. For information regarding LLD’s I highly recommend the following paper. Anatomic and functional leg-length inequality: A review and recommendation for clinical decision-making. Part 1, anatomic leg-length inequality: prevalence, magnitude, effects and clinical significance. Chiropractic and Osteopathy 2005, 13:11.
