Chiropractic Research

Chiropractic Research

Numerous studies have shown that chiropractic treatment is both safe and effective. The following are excerpts from a few of the more recent studies. By examining the research supporting chiropractic care, you will find that chiropractic offers tremendous potential in meeting today’s health care challenges.

For Acute and Chronic Pain

“Patients with chronic low-back pain treated by chiropractors showed greater improvement and satisfaction at one month than patients treated by family physicians. Satisfaction scores were higher for chiropractic patients. A higher proportion of chiropractic patients (56 percent vs. 13 percent) reported that their low-back pain was better or much better, whereas nearly one-third of medical patients reported their low-back pain was worse or much worse.”

– Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, Nyiendo et al. (2000),

In a Randomized controlled trial, 183 patients with neck pain were randomly allocated to manual therapy (spinal mobilization), physiotherapy (mainly exercise) or general practitioner care (counseling, education and drugs) in a 52-week study. The clinical outcomes measures showed that manual therapy resulted in faster recovery than physiotherapy and general practitioner care. Moreover, total costs of the manual therapy-treated patients were about one-third of the costs of physiotherapy or general practitioner care.

-- British Medical Journal, Korthals-de Bos et al. (2003)

In Comparison to Other Treatment Alternatives

“Acute and chronic chiropractic patients experienced better outcomes in pain, functional disability, and patient satisfaction; clinically important differences in pain and disability improvement were found for chronic patients.”

– Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, Haas et al. (2005)

“In our randomized, controlled trial, we compared the effectiveness of manual therapy, physical therapy, and continued care by a general practitioner in patients with nonspecific neck pain. The success rate at seven weeks was twice as high for the manual therapy group (68.3 percent) as for the continued care group (general practitioner). Manual therapy scored better than physical therapy on all outcome measures. Patients receiving manual therapy had fewer absences from work than patients receiving physical therapy or continued care, and manual therapy and physical therapy each resulted in statistically significant less analgesic use than continued care.”

– Annals of Internal Medicine, Hoving et al. (2002)

For Headaches

“Cervical spine manipulation was associated with significant improvement in headache outcomes in trials involving patients with neck pain and/or neck dysfunction and headache.”

-- Duke Evidence Report, McCrory, Penzlen, Hasselblad, Gray (2001)

“The results of this study show that spinal manipulative therapy is an effective treatment for tension headaches. . . Four weeks after cessation of treatment . . . the patients who received spinal manipulative therapy experienced a sustained therapeutic benefit in all major outcomes in contrast to the patients that received amitriptyline therapy, who reverted to baseline values.” ‘

-- Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, Boline et al. (1995)

Cost Effectiveness

“Chiropractic care appeared relatively cost-effective for the treatment of chronic low-back pain. Chiropractic and medical care performed comparably for acute patients. Practice-based clinical outcomes were consistent with systematic reviews of spinal manipulative efficacy: manipulation-based therapy is at least as good as and, in some cases, better than other therapeusis.”

– Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, Haas et al. (2005)

Patient Satisfaction

“Chiropractic patients were found to be more satisfied with their back care providers after four weeks of treatment than were medical patients. Results from observational studies suggested that back pain patients are more satisfied with chiropractic care than with medical care. Additionally, studies conclude that patients are more satisfied with chiropractic care than they were with physical therapy after six weeks.”

-- American Journal of Public Health, Hertzman-Miller et al. (2002)

Popularity of Chiropractic

“Chiropractic is the largest, most regulated, and best recognized of the complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) professions. CAM patient surveys show that chiropractors are used more often than any other alternative provider group and patient satisfaction with chiropractic care is very high. There is steadily increasing patient use of chiropractic in the United States, which has tripled in the past two decades.”

– Annals of Internal Medicine, Meeker and Haldeman (2002)

Copyright © 2006 American Chiropractic Association. All rights reserved.
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NCLC

32nd Annual National Chiropractic Legislative Conference

"Chiropractic 2007 - Changing the Environment"

NCLC 2007 - MARCH 21ST - 24TH

The National Chiropractic Legislative Conference (NCLC) is the chiropractic profession's most important public policy and educational event.

For the 32nd consecutive year, hundreds of DCs and chiropractic students from across the country will gather in Washington, DC to meet with Members of Congress to discuss issues that matter most to DCs and chiropractic patients. In addition to the Capitol Hill advocacy that has helped make ACA one of the most effective lobbying organizations in America, NCLC offers new opportunities for DCs in Medicare, military and veterans health care, and the National Health Service Corps.

NCLC 2007 will be held at the L'Enfant Plaza hotel which is one of the Capital's most prestigious hotel addresses. Named for Washinton's premier city planner, Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the hotel sits in the midst of the Plaza and offers a stately and gracious sense of arrival for guests. May rooms offer exceptional views of the city's historic sites.

Centrally located, the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel is within walking distance of the Smithsonian Castle and only steps from the Air and Space Museum, the World War II Memorial and the Washington Mall. The hotel is convenient to 4 of the 5 Metro mass transit lines and is a 10 minute drive from Ronald Reagan National Airport and 45 minutes from BWI and Dulles International Airports.

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Doctors of Chiropractic Offer Nutrition Advice For A Healthy New Year

by The American Chiropractic Association

There is no better time to rejuvenate your health than the start of a new year. So don't let your resolution to eat more nutritiously fall by the wayside. Just a few simple changes in your diet and lifestyle can have a positive impact on your health-and can also prevent you from experiencing a variety of health problems in the future-according to the American Chiropractic Association (ACA).

"In my own practice, I urge my patients to stop smoking, eat a balanced diet, drink plenty of water, exercise regularly and augment their balanced diet with appropriate nutritional supplements," explains Dr. Juanee Surprise, president of ACA's Council on Nutrition.

Dr. Surprise and the ACA offer the following advice to help put your New Year's resolution into practice:

Lifestyle Changes

Get active! Try to exercise for 20-30 minutes at least 3-4 days a week.
Eat out more sparingly. Since food preparation methods in restaurants often involve high amounts-and the wrong types-of fat and sugar, give preference to home-cooked food.
Brown-bagging your lunch is also a good idea because you can control your fat and sugar content while adding nutritious fruits, vegetables and grains.
Limit your intake of alcohol, and quit smoking. Drinking alcohol excessively and/or smoking can hinder your body's ability to absorb nutrients from your food.

According to Dr. Surprise, "Younger people are starting to suffer from heart disease, not only because of our national diet of hamburgers and fries, but because of an epidemic of inactivity."

Dietary Changes
"We need to eliminate the traditional diet of coffee and doughnuts for breakfast; a hamburger for lunch-or no lunch; candy, cookies and soft drink for a snack; followed by a huge dinner with more protein than a person needs, few or no vegetables, and no water or fruit in the course of the day," explains Dr. Surprise. Keep the following dietary recommendations in mind as well:

Eat more raw foods. Cooking and canning destroys much of the nutrition in foods that can be eaten raw. With the exception of canned tomatoes-which can help prevent prostate cancer-fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables always have more natural vitamins and minerals than canned vegetables do.
Select organically grown foods when possible. They have lower amounts of toxic elements than foods that are not grown organically.
Eat whole foods. Much of the nutrition available to us in fruits and vegetables can be found in its skin, so don't peel it off and throw it away, unless it has been waxed or dyed.
Stay hydrated! Drink eight to ten 8-ounce glasses of water a day. (Coffee, tea, soft drinks and alcohol are diuretics/dehydrators. Don't substitute them for water.)
Consume 25-30 grams of fiber per day. Whole-grain breads and cereals, beans, nuts and some fruits and vegetables are good sources of fiber. High-fiber diets can help prevent digestive disorders, heart disease and colon cancer.

Vegetarian Diets
For those who are planning on going veggie in the New Year, research shows that a good vegetarian diet as part of a comprehensive health program can help prevent heart disease, cancer and other diseases. However, only consume moderate amounts of fried foods, hydrogenated fats and commercial meat substitutes. It's possible for a vegetarian to eat even more sugar and fat than a meat-eater by overloading on junk food.

If you are considering a vegetarian diet, keep the following tips in mind:

Don't rely on fruits and vegetables at the expense of grains and legumes. The repetition of fruits and vegetables can narrow your food choices, thus narrowing the variety of nutrients you consume.
Tiredness, malaise, and anemia can be signs of deficiencies. Those who have been on a vegetarian diet for some time should have their B12 and iron levels checked at least once a year.
Consume fortified foods or take supplements to obtain the nutrients you no longer get from animal-based products. The biggest problem with vegetarian diets and others is that you no longer consume important nutrients found in animal protein.
Before eliminating animal products from the diet, it is important to get information about how to do it right. Children, pregnant and breast-feeding women, and people recovering from illness should consult their doctor (e.g. DC, MD, DO).

Supplements
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, dietary supplements are not perfect substitutes for conventional or even fortified foods. Nor can a person sustain good health by just taking vitamin and mineral supplements. But when taken properly, nutritional supplements can play an important role in achieving maximum health. If you are considering nutritional supplements, keep these important tips in mind:

Don't overlook nutrition. Since supplements are just that-an added source of nutrients-it is important to consume dark green vegetables, oils, nuts and seeds, which are sources of magnesium, fatty acids, and many other vitamins and minerals. Supplements are not an excuse to forget about eating right.
Since choosing the right nutritional supplements to suit your individual needs can be a complicated endeavor, consult a nutritional practitioner-such as a doctor of chiropractic-to determine what kinds of supplements are best for you.
Don't try to "self-prescribe." If you have symptoms such as headaches, chronic fatigue or cardiac problems, you need to seek professional advice-not the advice of a supplement store clerk.

Dr. Surprise explains that, "Unfortunately, consumers are not sure who to go to for advice. The public does not know that many doctors of chiropractic are specialists in nutrition."

Chiropractic Care Can Help
As part of their training, doctors of chiropractic learn overall wellness and healing, with proper nutrition playing a significant part in that approach. If you have questions about proper nutrition or supplementation, consult your doctor of chiropractic.