Is Your Peoria Chiropractor Really Worth It?

The picture really has nothing to do with this topic. We're just going to spend a moment on a vitally important research article, and we might mention some numbers and statistics, so I thought I'd give you a fun picture to look at as a quick breather.

The article poses this question: "Is there any evidence in the current research literature to support the use of spinal manipulation for patients with acute low back pain?" A rather narrow question, notice. It doesn't mention patients with neck pain, headaches, or even long-term low back pain. Also, it's important to note that "spinal manipulation" covers a lot of ground: the chiropractic adjustment is just one possible type of spinal manipulation. Most manipulations are significantly less specific and precise than the chiropractic adjustment.

The article, which was published in the highly-respected journal Spine in October, examined 14 other random clinical trials, which included over 2,000 patients. The most common providers of "spinal manipulation" were chiropractors and physical therapists. Success was defined as an improvement in function: that is, after a course of treatment, was the patient more able to perform a given activity.

Good news! The article concludes that "spinal manipulations" are just as or more effective than (articles like this abhor definitiveness as a rule) exercise, electrical stim, physical rehab, education, and the like. In other words, this whole "spinal manipulation" thing really works!

In conclusion, the article recommends all spine care clinicians to discuss the possibility of "spinal manipulation" with their acute-low-back patients who need something more than home exercises. That means that going to your Peoria Activator chiropractor really IS worth it!

Of course, we already knew all this, right? It's always nice to have published validation.

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