Chiropractic Protects Your Health

Chiropractic is not just about pain relief. Very often, patients present to our office seeking not pain relief, but the ability to do their favorite hobbies once again. For example, if you have gardened for thirty years and have lost the ability to bend over, it's likely not the pain that will encourage you to seek chiropractic care. You will come to Johnson Family Chiropractic hoping to be able to bend over again, so you can continue gardening. Many different types of activities, called "functions", may be what someone is trying to regain. Functions can be as simple as bending over, or as complicated as scrapbooking or walking a mile.

These "functional" patients are very often over the age of 65. As we age, we slowly lose the ability to do the things that we used to be able to do. It is very important for chiropractors to examine and document not only these patients' pain improvements, but also their functional improvements. In fact, Medicare, the insurer of most Peoria area individuals over the age of 65, asks all chiropractors to measure all patient's ability to function.

With that in mind, why do "functional" patients tend to come to the chiropractor? It seems that many people instinctively know that chiropractic, being a physical science, is well-placed to help them with their physical limitations. I have certainly seen chiropractic restore functions to many patients, but that is only anecdotal evidence. What if I were asked to back up my claim with hard evidence: "Are chiropractic patients able to do more than non-chiropractic patients? How does their functional capacity compare? And how about if these patients are over the age of 65?"

A new article published in last month's prestigious Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT) attempts to answer these questions by examining how Medicare chiropractic patients compared to Medicare medical patients in the areas of function, health, and satisfaction with care. The short answer is that the "study provides evidence of a protective effect of chiropractic care against 1-year declines in functional and self-rated health among Medicare beneficiaries with spine conditions, and indications that chiropractic users have higher satisfaction with follow-up care and information provided about what is wrong with them."

So, not only do chiropractic patients have better function and health, but chiropractic actually provides a protective benefit!

The article also notes that recent medical spending for spinal-related health conditions have increased at a much higher rate and a much higher amount than chiropractic care, showing again how effective and cost-effective chiropractic can be.

From the article:

This study found prevalence of chiropractic use among age-eligible Medicare beneficiaries consistent with that of the US adult population, but among those seeking care for spine problems, we observed a much higher prevalence rate. Service volume trends between 1997 and 2006 showed growth in the average number of services used to treat spine conditions, although the percentage growth of chiropractic services was nearly flat compared with overall service volume growth. Medicare spending on spine conditions grew as a consequence of higher service volume and more expensive services, although spending on chiropractic was relatively flat and declined as a percentage of total spending among those choosing chiropractic.

This study provides evidence of a protective effect of chiropractic against 1-year declines in functional and SRH [self-rated health] among Medicare beneficiaries with spine conditions, and indications that chiropractic users have higher satisfaction with follow-up care and information provided about what is wrong with them.