Benefits of Chiropractic Care
Chiropractic treatment is quite popular and more and more people suffering back pain are going for this kind of treatment. But, there is a lot of controversy regarding benefits of chiropractic care. A number of studies have been undertaken to find out the truth.
In a study made in 1990, British researchers have found that chiropractic therapy was more effective for the treatment of low back pain than the conventional therapy.
Another study was made in Sweden in the late 1990’s and was reported in The Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 1999; 32:559-64. In this study, a group of interviewers questioned twenty consecutive patients who have just received treatments from eighty seven Swedish chiropractors. The patients were given a questionnaire asking if they had experienced any improved non-musculoskeletal symptoms after their adjustment. A total of 1504 responses were gathered and analyzed. The results are very informative.
Out of 1504 patients who had recently visited their chiropractor, 21-25% of cases reported at least one non-musculoskeletal benefit after their adjustment. The breakdown went like this: 26% had a pulmonary improvement (It was easier to breathe), 25% had a gastrointestinal benefit (A perception of improved GI function), 14% realized an eye/ vision improvement, and 14% felt they had gained a cardiac/circulation improvement.
A side note to this study was that the interviewers observed that in cases where other spinal areas were treated greater non-musculoskeletal improvements occurred. In other words, the number of positive reactions was directly associated with the number of spinal areas treated.
The findings of this report boosted the morale of all those people who are engaged in chiropractic therapy. The observations corroborated with their own experience while treating patients in their clinic. Much of these positive results could be attributed to the removal of muscle tension and/or nerve interference in the spine. It is an anatomic fact that thoracic spine contains and carries the nerves to the lungs, diaphragm, liver, stomach and many other organs.
The study was not made using a large number of patients. But, it was large enough to show a trend in the field of chiropractic treatment. Practitioners of chiropractic medicine will be heartened to know that the adjustment of the spinal areas that are secondary to the main biomechanical lesion would produce such excellent benefits for the patient. To get better information regarding chiropractic treatment, farther follow-up studies are required which is of longer duration to get answers to the different questions raised by this Swedish study.
