What’s the truth about chiropractors? Waste of time and no value, or life savers? Here’s my quick take on chiropractors. As mentioned in vid, coming soon, Alpha Joe Coffee Booster. Study mentioned in vid below:
Effect of Usual Medical Care Plus Chiropractic Care vs Usual Medical Care Alone on Pain and Disability Among US Service Members With Low Back Pain.A Comparative Effectiveness Clinical Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2018;1(1)
Question What is the effect of adding chiropractic care to usual medical care for patients with low back pain?
Findings In this comparative effectiveness clinical trial among active-duty US military personnel, patients who received usual medical care plus chiropractic care reported a statistically significant moderate improvement in low back pain intensity and disability at 6 weeks compared with those who received usual care alone.
Meaning This trial supports the inclusion of chiropractic care as a component of multidisciplinary health care for low back pain, as currently recommended in existing guidelines. Abstract
Importance It is critically important to evaluate the effect of nonpharmacological treatments on low back pain and associated disability.
Objective To determine whether the addition of chiropractic care to usual medical care results in better pain relief and pain-related function when compared with usual medical care alone.
Design, Setting, and Participants A 3-site pragmatic comparative effectiveness clinical trial using adaptive allocation was conducted from September 28, 2012, to February 13, 2016, at 2 large military medical centers in major metropolitan areas and 1 smaller hospital at a military training site. Eligible participants were active-duty US service members aged 18 to 50 years with low back pain from a musculoskeletal source.
Interventions The intervention period was 6 weeks. Usual medical care included self-care, medications, physical therapy, and pain clinic referral. Chiropractic care included spinal manipulative therapy in the low back and adjacent regions and additional therapeutic procedures such as rehabilitative exercise, cryotherapy, superficial heat, and other manual therapies.
Main Outcomes and Measures Coprimary outcomes were low back pain intensity (Numerical Rating Scale; scores ranging from 0 [no low back pain] to 10 [worst possible low back pain]) and disability (Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire; scores ranging from 0-24, with higher scores indicating greater disability) at 6 weeks. Secondary outcomes included perceived improvement, satisfaction (Numerical Rating Scale; scores ranging from 0 to 10 [extremely satisfied]), and medication use. The coprimary outcomes were modeled with linear mixed-effects regression over baseline and weeks 2, 4, 6, and 12.
Results Of the 806 screened patients who were recruited through either clinician referrals or self-referrals, 750 were enrolled (250 at each site). The mean (SD) participant age was 30.9 (8.7) years, 175 participants (23.3%) were female, and 243 participants (32.4%) were nonwhite. Statistically significant site × time × group interactions were found in all models. Adjusted mean differences in scores at week 6 were statistically significant in favor of usual medical care plus chiropractic care compared with usual medical care alone overall for low back pain intensity (mean difference, −1.1; 95% CI, −1.4 to −0.7), disability (mean difference, −2.2; 95% CI, −3.1 to −1.2), and satisfaction (mean difference, 2.5; 95% CI, 2.1 to 2.8) as well as at each site. Adjusted odd ratios at week 6 were also statistically significant in favor of usual medical care plus chiropractic care overall for perceived improvement (odds ratio = 0.18; 95% CI, 0.13-0.25) and self-reported pain medication use (odds ratio = 0.73; 95% CI, 0.54-0.97). No serious related adverse events were reported.
Conclusions and Relevance Chiropractic care, when added to usual medical care, resulted in moderate short-term improvements in low back pain intensity and disability in active-duty military personnel. This trial provides additional support for the inclusion of chiropractic care as a component of multidisciplinary health care for low back pain, as currently recommended in existing guidelines. However, study limitations illustrate that further research is needed to understand longer-term outcomes as well as how patient heterogeneity and intervention variations affect patient responses to chiropractic care.
Full Paper HERE
Will Brink is the owner of the Brinkzone Blog. Will has over 30 years experience as a respected author, columnist and consultant, to the supplement, fitness, bodybuilding, and weight loss industry and has been extensively published. Will graduated from Harvard University with a concentration in the natural sciences, and is a consultant to major supplement, dairy, and pharmaceutical companies.
His often ground breaking articles can be found in publications such as Lets Live, Muscle Media 2000, MuscleMag International, The Life Extension Magazine, Muscle n Fitness, Inside Karate, Exercise For Men Only, Body International, Power, Oxygen, Penthouse, Women’s World and The Townsend Letter For Doctors.
He’s also been published in peer reviewed journals.
Will is the author of the popular e-books, both accompanied by private members forum access , Bodybuilding Revealed & Fat Loss Revealed.
You can also buy Will’s other books on Amazon, Apple iBook, and Barnes and Noble.
My sports chiropractor sure helped me! Back in 2010 I started having a hard time breathing all day long. I spent $6,000 at regular doctors and a heart doctor. My heart was strong! Nothing else found wrong in tests. Thankfully, a co-worker told me about a relative who went to a chiropractor and received wonderful help for what regular doctors could not find a solution. My chiropractor helped me in 3 visits! After the first visit, she said I would feel a little bit worse before I got better. It was a twisted vertebrae. I even went to a sports doctor and they could not figure it out. I have never had a problem breathing since!!! In fact, I even felt better at the gym and work. It was only $80 first visit and $40 for each visit thereafter.
Good article. The problem is finding a good chiropractor… one who treats adjusting YOUR spine differently than he/she treats another. If you don’t come out of the office hearing your spine snap, crackle, pop every time, go find another, otherwise they are just taking your money.
30 years ago Chiropractors twisted you like a pretzel to realign your spine but technology has come a long way and many now use hand held pneumatic adjustment tools. Mine reversed a severed curvature using that and weight suspension techniques in 6 months.Rice Kristin’s style treatment not included.
Will – big fan – I went to (2) different chiropractors for low back pain which was radiating down my left leg with no results – however a friend recommended someone who she had great results with so I figured I’d try one more time before giving up – good thing because it was a totally different experience from the detailed 1st visit exam (30-45 mins) to the top to bottom adjustment she was literally cracking my ankle and toes – I was pain free after about 6 visits including completely fixing my throwing shoulder by the 2nd adjustment which had become weak and painful when throwing I was able to hit the field ready to go sometimes without hardly any warm up or stretching.
Do you have any vids or articles or done any research on “redox signaling”??
The Placebo effect is real. Google ‘history’ of chiropractic…complete nonsense.
Incorrect, and your comments suggests you have not been following the published data… It’s sad some MD’s retain that position (usually as told to them in med school…) when so many other MD’s, many of whom I know, view it as complementary to their own practice, and will regularly refer to chiropractors and vice versa. Did you even bother to look at that study published in JAMA?