Your Health : Chiropractic
Research
Chiropractic Research
Numerous studies have shown that chiropractic
treatment is both safe and effective. The
following are excerpts from a few of the more recent studies. By examining
the research supporting chiropractic care, you will find that chiropractic offers
tremendous potential in meeting today’s health care challenges.
For Acute and Chronic Pain
“Patients with chronic low-back pain treated by chiropractors showed
greater improvement and satisfaction at one month than patients treated by
family physicians. Satisfaction scores were higher for chiropractic patients.
A higher proportion of chiropractic patients (56 percent vs. 13 percent) reported
that their low-back pain was better or much better, whereas nearly one-third
of medical patients reported their low-back pain was worse or much worse.”
– Nyiendo et al (2000), Journal of Manipulative and Physiological
Therapeutics
In a Randomized controlled trial, 183 patients with neck pain were
randomly allocated to manual therapy (spinal mobilization), physiotherapy
(mainly exercise) or general practitioner care (counseling, education
and drugs) in a 52-week study. The clinical outcomes measures showed
that manual therapy resulted in faster recovery than physiotherapy
and general practitioner care. Moreover, total costs of the manual
therapy-treated patients were about one-third of the costs of physiotherapy
or general practitioner care.
-- Korthals-de Bos et al (2003), British Medical Journal
In Comparison to Other Treatment Alternatives
“Acute and chronic chiropractic patients experienced better outcomes
in pain, functional disability, and patient satisfaction; clinically important
differences in pain and disability improvement were found for chronic patients.”
– Haas et al (2005), Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics
“In our randomized, controlled trial, we compared the effectiveness
of manual therapy, physical therapy, and continued care by a general
practitioner in patients with nonspecific neck pain. The success rate
at seven weeks was twice as high for the manual therapy group (68.3
percent) as for the continued care group (general practitioner). Manual
therapy scored better than physical therapy on all outcome measures.
Patients receiving manual therapy had fewer absences from work than
patients receiving physical therapy or continued care, and manual therapy
and physical therapy each resulted in statistically significant less
analgesic use than continued care.”
– Hoving et al (2002), Annals of Internal Medicine
For Headaches
“Cervical spine manipulation was associated with significant improvement
in headache outcomes in trials involving patients with neck pain and/or neck
dysfunction and headache.”
-- Duke Evidence Report, McCrory, Penzlen, Hasselblad, Gray (2001)
“The results of this study show that spinal manipulative therapy is an
effective treatment for tension headaches. . . Four weeks after cessation of
treatment . . . the patients who received spinal manipulative therapy experienced
a sustained therapeutic benefit in all major outcomes in contrast to the patients
that received amitriptyline therapy, who reverted to baseline values.” ‘
-- Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, Boline et
al. (1995)
Cost Effectiveness
“Chiropractic care appeared relatively cost-effective for the treatment
of chronic low-back pain. Chiropractic and medical care performed comparably
for acute patients. Practice-based clinical outcomes were consistent with systematic
reviews of spinal manipulative efficacy: manipulation-based therapy is at least
as good as and, in some cases, better than other therapeusis.”
– Haas et al (2005), Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics
Patient Satisfaction
“Chiropractic patients were found to be more satisfied with their back
care providers after four weeks of treatment than were medical patients. Results
from observational studies suggested that back pain patients are more satisfied
with chiropractic care than with medical care. Additionally, studies conclude
that patients are more satisfied with chiropractic care than they were with
physical therapy after six weeks.”
-- Hertzman-Miller et al (2002), American Journal of Public Health
Popularity of Chiropractic
“Chiropractic is the largest, most regulated, and best recognized of
the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) professions. CAM patient surveys
show that chiropractors are used more often than any other alternative provider
group and patient satisfaction with chiropractic care is very high. There is
steadily increasing patient use of chiropractic in the United States, which
has tripled in the past two decades.”
– Meeker, Haldeman (2002), Annals of Internal Medicine
