In Comparison to Other Treatments

“Chiropractic users had 64% lower odds of receiving an opioid prescription than non users.” – Corcoran et al. (2019) Pain Medicine

A growing list of research studies and reviews demonstrate that the services provided by chiropractors are not only clinically effective and safe but also cost effective. Following are excerpts and summaries from a few of those studies. The evidence supports the natural, whole-body, nondrug approach of chiropractic for a variety of conditions.

For Acute and Chronic Pain

Chiropractic is a system of therapy focused on the structure of the body, particularly the spine. Chiropractors manipulate the body’s alignment to relieve pain and improve function and to help the body heal itself.

In addition to revealing trends in chronic pain, a new study also provides a glimpse of what might be causing the increase.

The information necessary for a detailed explanation isn’t part of the NHIS (National Health Interview Survey) data set, but the researchers did look at a host of variables to determine which ones were most closely associated with the pain trends.

Muscle relaxant drugs are largely ineffective for low back pain, despite being widely prescribed for this condition, suggests an analysis of the latest evidence published by The BMJ. The findings show that muscle relaxants might reduce pain in the short term, but the effect is too small to be considered clinically meaningful, and there is an increased risk of side effects.

Widespread pain is linked to a heightened risk of all types of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease and stroke, finds research published online in the journal Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine. This association is independent of potentially influential factors, such as age, general health, and lifestyle, the findings indicate.

Although doctors of chiropractic treat more than just back pain, many patients initially visit a chiropractor looking for relief from this pervasive condition. In fact, about 31 million Americans experience low back pain at any given time.

Medical guidelines help doctors understand the best way to treat health conditions. Surprisingly, many doctors do not adhere to them, and this is a problem, according to a new study by scientists at the University of Utah, studying health and MD guidelines. People with lower back pain injury miss 11 more days of work in a year when they only receive treatments for lower back pain that are not recommended by medical guidelines compared to people treated according to guidelines. The findings were published in PLOS ONE. Among the nearly 60,000 people whose medical claims were analyzed:

According to the Global Burden of Disease Study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, neck pain is ranked as the fourth leading cause of global disability. One of the main reasons for neck pain has been attributed to lifestyle, particularly when people spend long durations of time with their necks bent forward. however, a systematic, quantitative study has been lacking on how personal factors, such as sex, weight, age and work-related habits can affect neck strength and endurance.

New research from Boston Medical Center identifies elevated mortality risk for women with back pain when compared to women without back pain.

The research cites chiropractic care among the treatments that are effective and safe for managing back pain.