Chiropractic Research

Medical research into the effectiveness of Manipulation too.

Neck Pain

Chiropractic Research gives both the patient and the doctor confidence. The effectiveness of manipulation is not folklore but is undergirded by hard scientific research.

A summary of the findings of the Bone and Joint Decade's exhaustive research literature research came with the following:

1. About 10% of the population will experience disabling neck pain in any one twelve month period.

2. There is NO EVIDENCE that degenerative arthritis in the neck is a risk factor for neck pain.

3. Alternative health care (including chiropractic) appears to be more beneficial than 'best' usual medical care and surgery.

4. For a fuller summary go to: http://www.chiropractic-help.com/neck-pain-treatment.html

Alternative or mainline health care?

In the early years there is no doubt that Chiropractic failed to produce a reasonable volume of research. However in the last 25 years Chiropractic has an impressive record considering the absence of funding from the traditional sources that medicine enjoys. There is now an international network of full time researchers, the depth of which can be assessed by reading journals such as Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, a chiropractic journal. In addition many medical journals are accepting research done by chiropractors.

Medical Insurance and Lost Time savings

• In the English town of Wilmslow, where the National Health Service (NHS) provided chiropractic services, an audit found that the service saved the NHS nearly $1000 per patient.

• The Health and Safety Executive, established by the British Government to reduce days lost from work by musculo-skeletal disorders by 30%, concluded that the professionals best placed to achieve this are chiropractors, osteopaths and musculo-skeletal physiotherapists.

• Following a government sponsored pilot chiropractic research study in Norway demonstrating the cost-effectiveness of chiropractic care, the state has announced direct funding for chiropractic care. The state has also voted to support the formation of chiropractic college in Norway.

• A 2005 study of 109,080 patients suffering from back pain clearly showed that inclusion of Chiropractic resulted in significant savings for two insurance companies: $342 per patient for those consulting (mainly) chiropractors –vs- $506 for those consulting medical doctors (and this excluded surgical and hospital care). Spine 30(12).

• New research done at Harvard Medical School proved that 'best medical care' is certainly not 'best': A randomised, controlled trial on 444 adults suffering from acute low back pain reports that patients who also received chiropractic, acupuncture or massage:
  1. had significantly less pain at 5 weeks.

  2. had a significant reduction in 'worry'.

  3. were more likely to use the word 'excellent' when asked about treatment satisfaction.

     The authors conclude: Good early results, combined with patient satisfaction and less worry translates into major benefits and less chronicity.

     So impressed were Harvard University health care officials that they immediately included chiropractic benefits to their health care system. Spine 32(2): Eisenberg, Post etal (2007)

  World Health Organisation WHO

  The World Health Organisation (WHO) released its first policy document in November 2005 on chiropractic health care to governmental health authorities of 192 member nations to, inter alia, encourage the development of chiropractic health care in all national health systems.

  Chronic and Acute Low Back Pain

  ‘Spine’ is probably one of the most esteemed medical journals. Spine has reported that, in a randomized controlled trial or RCT (one of the benchmark Chiropractic research trials) of patients with chronic back and neck pain, after 9 weeks of Chiropractic treatment 27% were completely without pain. In comparison only 9% of patients who received acupuncture and a miserly 5% of patients who took prescribed medication were pain free.

  In another Spine research article Aure et al showed that in a group of 49 patients with chronic low back pain, preventing them from working, that 67% of those receiving manipulation were back at work after two months in comparison with 27% who received exercise only.

  Spinal Manipulation is recommended in medical journals too.

  A UCLA low back pain study published in Spine 30(19) found that: The fact that back pain patients have better satisfaction if they choose chiropractic care is now beyond debate. This has been consistently demonstrated by observational studies and randomized trials.

  A review, reported in the British Medical Journal (June 2006): Over 1000 randomized, controlled trials of all treatments for LBP have now provided a "greatly improved' foundation for manipulation in the evidence-based management of LBP. Their conclusion is that spinal manipulation is recommended for both acute and chronic LBP, and that all surgery except discectomies (in cases that have not responded to conservative management) should be avoided. Diagnosis and treatment of Low Back Pain (LBP) - Koes, van Tulder and Thomas.

  Exercise and Rehabilitation

  • Bronfort et al (Spine 2004) showed that a combined manipulation and exercise group had greater gains that the manipulation group alone.

  • Interesting chiropractic research in Norway confirms that over 82% of patients with LBP are more than satisfied in the short term with chiropractic management. However, in the long term, they were less satisfied indicating more research into rehabilitation and continuing care to prevent reoccurrence of the pain. JMPT 28

  • Spine (220): Dr Hartivsen (chiropractor) and Dr Christensen (medical doctor):

    A new study of 1387 pairs of Danish twins, aged 70+, confirms that seniors who lead a regular active lifestyle of cycling, gardening, long walks, gymnastics, dancing etc significantly reduces the risk of older people developing back pain.

  Smoking

  Moller et al (Journal of Joint Surgery) found that smoking was the single most important risk factor for the development of postoperative complications. (I know of no chiropractic research that would confirm this, but my experience in regard to our care endorses it absolutely. Damaged tissues need all the oxygen they can get, and it has been proved that smoking reduces the oxygen carrying capacity of blood by about 20%. B.P.)

  Anti-inflammatory drugs

  Elder et al (American Journal of Sports Medicine) found that anti-inflammatories such as Celebrex impaired ligament and bone healing. Worse still, some NSAIDs have a so-called Anti-cholinergic side effect. They block the transfer of information from one nerve to another causing memory loss, foggy brain, blurred vision ... Read more …
  
  For further information on Chiropractic Research, I recommend you follow this link to ISIS Chiropractic. Read more …
  
  To go from Chiropractic Research to A BEE UNDER THE MITRE
  
  

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