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Continued Chiropractic Care for Chronic Low Back Pain


This is a little provocative.  Why should someone continue seeing a Chiropractor for low back pain?  Some in the public feel like this is just a scam perpetuated by the Doctor of Chiropractic sometimes.  Especially if the low back pain is better or if we have reached a maximal therapeutic benefit (meaning we’ve gotten you as good as we can) there is confusion on the part of the patient as to why they need to keep seeing the chiropractor.  This confusion is fair and must be addressed.  The goal of this post is to help inform our current and potentially future patients as to the importance of continued chiropractic care. 
This first part refers to an article in the journal Spine from 2011.  Two Medical Doctors, Senna and Machaly, performed a single-blinded study comparing sham Spinal Manipulative treatment to treatment that discontinued after initial course of care and to Spinal Manipulative Treatment that continued every two weeks after the initial 1-month care.  The study showed that the two groups that received the actual adjustment had significantly less pain than those who got the fake adjustment.  What’s more, the group that discontinued care after one month saw a return of pain and disability where the continued care group continued seeing the benefits of adjustments.
Here’s a way to think of this:  if you go to the dentist and get a cavity filled, do you then no longer have to worry about your tooth health, or do you need to continue care both at home and in the office to ensure your oral health is maintained or increased?  Of course you need to continue care.  Just because you no longer have pain, doesn’t mean you are necessarily cured from the problem that brought you in.  In some cases, it may take a while to see the pain return, but 10 percent of people with low back pain will see the condition become chronic.  Also, you may still have pain after that first month or six week period, but I personally would rather live with a 2/10 than an 8/10 over having that 2/10 return to an 8/10 after I discontinue care.
Discontinuing your care after you no longer are experiencing symptoms is an understandable temptation, but if you want to return to your pre-injury state (or as close to it as possible), and enjoy the benefits of spinal health, be open to the maintenance care plan your DC recommends.

Reference:
Does Maintained Spinal Manipulation Therapy for Chronic Nonspecific Low Back Pain Result in Better Long-term Outcom?, Senna, Mohammed. Machaly, Shareen. Spine. August 15, 2011. Vol 36. Issue 18.  http://journals.lww.com/spinejournal/Abstract/2011/08150/Does_Maintained_Spinal_Manipulation_Therapy_for.2.aspx



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