“Chiropractors might be preventing some of their patients from receiving procedures of unproven cost utility, value or dubious efficacy.” This quote comes from the latest study revealing chiropractic’s superiority to “traditional medical approaches” for a host of health problems.
The study, published in the April 2011 issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, was titled, “Health Maintenance Care in Work-Related Low Back Pain and Its Association with Disability Recurrence.”
It compared “physical therapy, chiropractic and (medical) physician services” as they relate to disability and health maintenance. Investigators found that “the likelihood of recurrent disability due to LBP (low back pain) for recipients of services during the health maintenance care period by all other provider groups was consistently worse when compared with recipients of health maintenance care by chiropractors.”
Herniated or bulging disc
The authors state that “by visiting only (or mostly) a chiropractor or becoming a chiropractic loyalist, the patients do not receive other traditional medical approaches.” While this is obvious, it is no less significant because those who do receive traditional medical care experienced a greater likelihood of recurrent disability.
What makes the quote at the beginning of this article even more interesting is that the “procedures of unproven cost utility value and dubious efficacy” are those offered by the medical doctors and physical therapists. What will make this point even more powerful to most readers is that the lead author of this study is himself a medical doctor.
A few paragraphs later, the authors note that “the “only” and “mostly” chiropractic group and ‘chiropractic loyalists’ during both periods combined had fewer surgeries, used fewer opioid drugs, and had lower costs for medical care than the other provider groups.” Could low back pain “surgeries” and “opioids” (as well as other drugs) be considered among the “procedures of unproven cost utility value and dubious efficacy” the authors were referring to? That’s the way it reads.
This is the third of three great studies to appear in print in the past few months that suggest the superiority of chiropractic care over medical services.
Just one more great reason why you (and everyone you know) should be seeing a chiropractor for their primary healthcare needs.
The message in all of this is to question. Ask the right questions when treating with either Chiropractic or MD Practitioners. After all, that is what you are paying for through insurance or otherwise is their knowledge……
download-10-questions-to-ask-your-doctor
References:
Cifuentes M, Willetts J, Wasiak R. Health maintenance care in work-related low back pain and its association with disability recurrence. J Occup Environ Med, 2011 Apr;53(4):396-404. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21407100
McMorland G, Suter E, Casha S, du Plessis SJ, Hurlbert RJ. Manipulation or microdiskectomy for sciatica? A prospective randomized clinical study. J Manipulative Physiol Ther, 2010 Oct;33(8):576-84. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21036279
Bishop PB, Quon JA, Fisher CG, Dvorak MF. The Chiropractic Hospital-based Interventions Research Outcomes (CHIRO) study: a randomized controlled trial on the effectiveness of clinical practice guidelines in the medical and chiropractic management of patients with acute mechanical low back pain. Spine J, 2010 Dec;10(12):1055-64. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20889389