Over the years, Chiropractors have taken a lot of heat about their brand of healing. Insurance companies discredit their treatment everyday. But Chiropractic care, in this emerging age of preventable care as a way to reduce health care costs, may be ready to make a grand re-entrance.
I previously blogged about a Seven Year Study that revealed Chiropriactic was an excellent care technique.
I work with Chiropractors in appropriate cases where client care can be managed by such a physician. These doctors often refer patients on to other specialists if the needs arise.
Low-back pain sufferers can seek relief from any number of health professionals, orthopedists, physical therapists and osteopaths among them.
Many choose chiropractors, which typically combine spinal manipulation with such treatments as.jpg)
exercise, massage, heat or electrical stimulation. This approach is modestly successful in reducing pain of recent onset and improving disability, at least for a few weeks, according to a new Cochrane review. However, the review found no evidence that chiropractic works significantly better than care provided by other clinicians.
Cochrane Reviews investigate the effects of interventions for prevention, treatment and rehabilitation in a healthcare setting. They also assess the accuracy of a diagnostic test for a given condition in a specific patient group and setting.
Low-back pain is one of the most common and costly musculoskeletal problems in modern society. About 80% of the population will experience low-back pain at some time in their lives. Many people with low-back pain seek the care of a chiropractor.
For Cochrane's review, chiropractic was defined as encompassing a combination of therapies such as spinal manipulation, massage, heat and cold therapies, electrotherapies, the use of mechanical devices, exercise programs, nutritional advice, orthotics, lifestyle modification and patient education. The review did not look at studies where chiropractic was defined as spinal manipulation alone as this has been reviewed elsewhere and is not necessarily reflective of actual clinical practice. Non-specific low-back pain indicates that no specific cause is detectable, such as infection, cancer, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, fracture, inflammatory process or radicular syndrome (pain, tingling or numbness spreading down the leg).
Twelve randomised trials (including 2887 participants) assessing various combinations of chiropractic care for low-back pain were included in this review, but only three of these studies were considered to have a low risk of bias.
This tells me that chiropractic care is a useful protocol in the effort of reducing pain and healing in many circumstances.
brain injury symptoms and reported cognitive impairments. For instance, depression. And while it is true that chronic or lasting pain can have symptoms that mimic those found with cognitive impairments, those symptoms are often not caused by pain or are at least exacerbated by pain components.
The Journal of Neuroscience recently published a study that supports relief of chronic pain as a precursor to the relief of brain injury symptoms and cognitive impairments. Those with chronic pain also experience cognitive impairments and reduced gray matter in parts of the brain associated with pain processing and the emotional components of pain, like depression and anxiety.
