To the general public, chiropractic care is probably most known for helping people with low back pain.

Although aches and pains are what typically draws people toward chiropractic care, that is only just scratching the surface of the potential that chiropractic care can do for your health and body.

With that being said, however, chiropractic adjustments are great at helping people with acute and chronic low back pain and definitely deserve its own post. Because chiropractors are most well known for helping with neck, mid-back, and low back pain, there are tons of research articles devoted to the benefits, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of chiropractic adjustments compared to surgery, medication, therapeutic exercises, and other forms of rehab. 

When looking at research articles, the top tier papers are usually systemic reviews, or meta-analysis. These types of research papers take a look at several other already published studies that use explicit and reproducible methods to systematically search, critically appraise, and synthesize on a specific issue. As a general rule of thumb, when performing your own research, articles that are systematic reviews or meta-analyses will have the most credibility, but that does not mean others are not valid.

In this article published in 2018, “Manipulation and mobilization for treating chronic low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” the authors break down the effectiveness of chiropractic adjustments (SMT) compared to other non-invasive modalities, like exercise, acupuncture, or physiotherapy. 

If you read the article, in the results section, the analysis shows that chiropractic adjustments, (either with a thrust, such as your typical manual adjustment, or non-thrust which would be considered a mobilization) are better at decreasing low back pain than just physical therapy or exercise.

“Nine trials (1,176 patients) with a reduction in pain at post-treatment closest to 1 month from baseline and with continuous data were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled SMD across all studies showed a statistically significant larger reduction in pain from thrust or non-thrust interventions compared with an active comparator being that of exercise or physical therapy.”

And again, when looking at the reduction of disability, the results state, “The pooled SMD across all studies showed a statistically significant larger reduction in disability from thrust or non-thrust interventions compared with an active comparator.” Reduction in disability is referring to an outcome measure called the Oswestry Disability Index. This questionnaire evaluates your pain based on how well you can function, or not function (disability). This stat here emphasizes that chiropractic care can help you function better with your everyday life. 

My goal is to help my patients thrive in life, and not just survive. Imagine being able to do those little everyday tasks in life, like washing dishes, playing with your kids, or working out at the gym without those “getting old aches and pains.” Most people live their lives working through some type of pain and just get used to it after a while. As this study shows, chiropractic care is very effective in helping people get out of low back pain, and starting to function better. 

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Reference

Coulter, I. D., Crawford, C., Hurwitz, E. L., Vernon, H., Khorsan, R., Suttorp Booth, M., & Herman, P. M. (2018). Manipulation and mobilization for treating chronic low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society, 18(5), 866–879. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spinee.2018.01.013