Adjusting the View of Chiropractic Care
Anyone who has lived with lower back pain knows how debilitating it can be – impacting the most routine daily activities, from sitting pain-free to tying a shoelace. Traditional medical care has ranged from rest and medication to surgery.
But now chiropractic care – long maligned by mainstream health care practitioners as a kind of pseudo medical science – is gaining some serious credibility as a more effective and less costly alternative treatment for back pain, thanks to a host of studies published in the highly respected Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT).
Key JMPT Findings
- Reported this summer in a fascinating Washington Post article, Mainstream Makes Adjustments, a study published in the June 2007 issue revealed that "patients who turned first to chiropractors and other alternative-medicine professionals for care were hospitalized and had surgery 60 percent less often and spent 85 percent less on pharmaceuticals than those with medical doctors as primary care providers."
- A study published in October 2005 revealed that the cost of chiropractic care is identical or superior to traditional medical care for treating chronic low-back pain, with chiropractic care being more effective.
- A January 2005 study showed that patients with chronic spinal pain syndromes did markedly better than patients who received either medication or acupuncture. (Source)
- A March 2004 study revealed that chiropractic care is more effective at treating chronic low-back pain in the patients’ first year of systems than traditional medical care. (Source)
Reduces Surgery, Cost
Another key study appearing in an October 2004 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine supported many of the JMPT findings, concluding that chiropractic care cut back pain treatment by 28 percent, reduced back surgeries by 32 percent, and reduced the cost of medical imaging such as x-rays and MRIs by 37 percent.
The Chiropractic Approach
Chiropractic care takes a conservative approach to lower back pain and potential disk problems – with the goal to help restore better motion and alignment in the spine without surgery or medication.
Spinal manipulation is the primary form of treatment, with chiropractors performing over 90 percent of all spinal manipulative therapy in the United States, according the the American Chiropractic Association website.
Besides reducing disc bulging, spinal manipulation can improve spinal function, which helps reduce inflammation, reduce or eliminate pain and discomfort, and begin the process of healing the surrounding soft tissues.
Many Suffer with Back Pain
Today researchers estimate that up to 80 percent of adults will suffer back pain in their lifetime – and 10 percent of all Americans will have back pain in a given year. It's a huge problem – not only in terms of pain and suffering, but job productivity and health care costs.
Fortunately, as more studies support the effectiveness of chiropractic care, many insurance companies and health care providers have begun to accept chiropractic care as a cost-effective way to treat the increasingly high incidence of lower back pain and neck pain.
Many more mainstream physicians are embracing the idea of chiropractic care as well.
"I'm an orthopedic spine surgeon, so I treat all sorts of back problems, and I'm a big believer in chiropractic," says William Lauerman, chief of spine surgery and a professor of orthopedic surgery at Georgetown University Hospital, in the Washington Post article (July 17, 2007). "I'm more of a believer for acute problems like short-term back pain, although I know [chiropractic] can be helpful for some cases of more-chronic conditions."
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