Chiropractic Manipulation for Low Back Pain

Many quality research articles have been published supporting chiropractic manipulation as a safe, effective and economically-smart choice for management of low back pain caused by injury to the joint, muscle or nerves.

In a study by Haas, Mitchell et al in 2004, it was shown that there were clinically significant reductions in pain and disability observed in 1,943 patients with acute low back pain that were treated with manipulation.  In the graph below, you can see that the blue line indicates lower pain and disability levels for patients treated by a chiropractor versus the red line indicating traditional medical care (1).

LBP1

LBP2

Another research study by Nyiendo et al, showed that patient satisfaction with chiropractic care (blue bar) for low back pain was also significantly higher than traditional medicine (pink bar) as seen in the chart below (2).

LBP3

In addition, research has been focusing on the combined effect of using physical therapy exercise with chiropractic manipulation.  In a study based in the United Kingdom, they compared patients with low back pain that received physical therapy exercise only, chiropractic manipulation only and chiropractic manipulation combined with physical therapy exercise.  The results showed significant benefits of combining chiropractic with physical therapy after the inital 3 months of treatment and continued benefit at one year after treatment (3).

LBP4

1.  Haas, Michell et al.  A Practice-Based Study of Patients with Acute and Chronic Low Back Pain Attending Primary Care and Chiropractic Physicians: 2-Week to 48-Month Follow-Up.  (J Manip Physiol Ther 2004; 27:160-9)
2.  Nyiendo, Haas, Goodwin.  Patient Characteristics, Practice Activities, and One-Month Outcomes for Chronic, Recurrent Low-Back Pain Treated by Chiropractors and Family Medicine Physicians: A Practice-Based Feasibility Study.  (J Manip Physiol Ther 2000; 23:239-245)
3.  UK BEAM Trial, United Kingdom Back Pain Exercise and Manipulation (UK BEAM) Randomized Trial: Effectiveness of Physical Treatments for Back Pain in Primary Care.  (BMJ 2004; 329:1381)