There was an interesting article published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It was a research study into the effectiveness of spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) for acute low back pain. The outcome of the study was very positive. What was really great (from our point of view) was the editorial encouraging medical doctors to refer patients with back pain for manipulative treatment. It was encouraging to see such a cooperative attitude towards the chiropractic profession. Thanks to Dr Richard Deyo MD, MPH! You can read the research study by Neil Paige MD and colleagues here: http://jamanetwork.com/journ…/jama/article-abstract/2616395…
low back pain
A recent article in JMPT investigating outcomes of acute and chronic low back pain, found that patients with nerve problems (radiculopathy) recovered equally well with chiropractic treatment as patients without radiculopathy.
The article, by Peterson et al, was investigating whether there were any positive predictive factors to suggest which patients would respond best to chiropractic treatment. The research, based on a group of 523 patients found that those patients who had responded best after one week of treatment, were the ones who were doing the best one month and three months after they were first seen.
Summary: generally, those patients who do best with chiropractic treatment will be the ones who are feeling better early on in their course of treatment. The presence of a nerve problem does not make the patient any less likely to respond to chiropractic treatment.
