Evidence Does Not Back-Up Spinal Manipulation for Acute Lower Back Pain, Review Finds

[xchrom]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120921161412.htm

ScienceDaily (Sep. 21, 2012) — Manipulating or "adjusting" the spine is a popular way to treat occasional or acute lower back pain and is covered by many health insurance plans, but a recent review by The Cochrane Library finds no evidence to suggest it is more effective than other therapy options.

According to the National Institutes of Health, lower back pain affects eight out of 10 people, and is commonly caused by injury or overuse. Spinal manipulation (SMT), a technique used by chiropractors, osteopaths, naturopaths and some medical doctors, is used to improve the range of motion of the joints in the spine.

"SMT is a worldwide, extensively practiced intervention; however, its effectiveness for acute lower back pain is not without dispute," said lead reviewer Sidney Rubinstein, senior researcher at the VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam.

The reviewers studied the results from 20 randomized controlled trials representing 2,674 participants with lower back pain of less than six weeks duration. Reviewers concluded that SMT neither reduced pain nor sped recovery faster than treatment options such as exercise, the use of NSAID pain medications or physiotherapy. Surprisingly, the review also found no evidence to suggest that SMT was more effective than therapies known to be ineffective. "This last finding would suggest more research is needed," said Dr. Rubinstein. If SMT is just as effective as accepted interventions, it should be better than ineffective therapies, such as using ultrasound or heat therapy.

[kestrel91316]

1. No, but it sure helped me with some chronic upper back pain.

[bunnies]

2. Me too.

Not to mention the chronic debilitating headaches that used to plague my daily existence. I'll file this article right along with the 'organics aren't "healthier"' crap.

I love when studies attempt to tell people that what worked for them really didnt.

[abolugi]

3. Yes

its helped wonders with my husbands roto-scoliois.
He had pain for years before the chiropractor fixed him up ( which the VA paid for, I might add! )

[justgamma]

4. BS. I had back pain so severe

I couldn't stand for more than a few minutes and I couldn't lay down for the pain. I had never been to a chiro before because I didn't think they would work. In desperation and in tears, I had my hubby take me to the nearest one. I walked out of that office in tears because I was pain free for the first time in days. I thought it was a miracle. 2 visits was all it took for me to be able to stand again. I slept sitting up for years, but I could stand and walk again.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

5. I've tried them all...good Physical Therapy is clear winner

Much of what the chiropractors I went to did was pretty close to what I got in PT. The snap-crackle- pop felt good, but did not really do much.

[hedgehog]

6. As far as I know, the introduction of the MRI showed that we really don't understand the causes of

back pain - that there was no actual correlation between damage to disks and pain level. It seems reasonable to me that manipulation works for some people, not for others because although the pain is the same, the cause is different.

http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/news/20110131/skip-the-mri-for-low-back-pain

[Odin2005]

7. A friend of mine went to a Chiro and all he did was give her headaches.

He also tried to peddle woo-woo snake oil to her.



What you call a failed physical therapist? A Chiropractor.

[NickB79]

8. The chiropractor I tried was a quack

He gave me a quick X-ray and went on about how the pain I was feeling in my back was due to a visible bone spur on the spine, which he said was easily corrected with weekly visits (for an indefinite period of time). It turns out I had a bulged disk in my lower back that the weekly visits did nothing to correct. It felt great while he was working my lower back, but the pain and sciatica would return almost as soon as I sat back down in my car to go home.

Eventually the disk ruptured altogether, my wife rushed me to urgent care in horrible pain, and I had to do a few months of physical therapy to relieve it. Lots of work and sweating spent on various exercise machines. But, the physical therapy DID work, and I've been pain-free for 3 years now.