Neck Pain:
A summary of the findings of the
Bone and Joint Decade's exhaustive research literature research came
with the following:
-
About 10% of
the population will experience disabling neck pain in any one
twelve month period.
-
There is NO
EVIDENCE that degenerative arthritis in the neck is a risk
factor for neck pain.
-
Alternative
health care (including chiropractic) appears to be more
beneficial than 'best' usual medical care and surgery.
-
For a fuller
summary go to: http://www.chiropractic-help.com/neck-pain-treatment.html
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.
Research into the
efficacy of Chiropractic
Spine 32(2): Eisenberg, Post etal
(2007) (Spine is one of the most
prestigious medical journals)
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:
-
had
significantly less pain at 5 weeks.
-
had a
significant reduction in 'worry'.
-
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.
Alternative or
mainline health care?
Chiropractors have
been at odds over this question, but a major consultation to address
the question, has shown a clear mandate to their leaders to bring
chiropractic into mainline health care system as the ‘spinal care
experts’. Adoption by the World Health Organization of the
chiropractic term ‘neuro-muscular-skeletal’ brings their
classification system in line with the chiropractic notion of
function and disability of joints.
Rehabilitation in
Low Back Pain
Interesting
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
Alternative Care
for LBP saves Insurance Companies huge amounts
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).
Norway governmental
study
Following a
government sponsored pilot 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 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 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.
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.
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.
In the English town
of Wilmslow,
where the
NHS provided chiropractic services, an audit found
that the service saved the NHS nearly $1000 per patient.
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.
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.
‘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 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.
Bronfort et al (Spine
2004)
showed that a combined manipulation and exercise group had
greater gains that the manipulation group alone.
Moller et al
(Journal of Joint Surgery)
found that smoking was the single
most important risk factor for the development of postoperative
complications. (This almost certainly applies to Chiropractic
treatment also. BP)
Elder et al
(American Journal of Sports Medicine) found that anti-inflammatories
such as Celebrex impaired ligament and bone healing.
