Research makes the healthcare world go ‘round! Research solidifies
the role of healthcare’s relief of pain. In
chiropractic healthcare, much research revolves around documenting chiropractic’s benefit for painful musculoskeletal conditions like neck pain, back pain, arm
pain and sciatic leg pain. Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation delivers just such research-documented, effective care to our
Tonawanda chiropractic patients.
CHALLENGE: DO HIGH QUALITY RESEARCH
A group of back pain researchers
challenged fellow researchers to develop long-term
plans to decrease the burden of low back pain
on patients and healthcare systems. They explained
that developing effective strategies remains a
huge job for back pain clinicians, doctors, and
researchers. Vexingly, back pain disability levels have not
improved despite an increased quantity of
published research papers about back pain care.
No consensus on the best way to handle low back pain
has been agreed upon. Non-drug and non-invasive methods
like exercise, manual therapy, massage, and such are general
recommendations. Other reviewing researchers indicated a few issues with back pain research: design
and analysis within the treatment clinical trials. (1) Designing research
studies is difficult. Coming up with a “sham”
protocol for spinal manipulation that seems like spinal
manipulation is especially challenging. (Just touching a spine can
be relieving some, but that is a topic for a
different article!) Observational studies are the next in line. How so? Researchers observe what happens to patients when they undergo treatment and describe changes and effects. Fortuitously, Cox®
Technic research has a mix of biomechanical and clinical
observational studies resulting in case reports, case series, plus
retrospective and prospective clinical studies. Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation feels this mix of
research support helps outline the expectations our Tonawanda chiropractic
patients may anticipate.
MINIMAL CLINICAL IMPORTANCE
Occasionally, chiropractic
physicians and low back pain patients alike are frustrated
with the outcomes of treatment for back pain. They shouldn’t
be! In medicine, the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) is reported 30% or 20% and even 10% improvement. That’s reported as an “effective” outcome. Cox® Technic has proposed 50%
improvement in 30 days as the goal…and still does. Often, chiropractic patients realize that 50% relief in fewer
than a month and that the 50% relief is closer to
70% or 80% or 90%! Sometimes, a patient’s response may be slower in attaining
relief or only reaches 30% or 40%. Some patients desire more while
others, particularly patients who have previously
undergone back surgery or sought non-relieving care
from many other providers, are quite satisfied. A study
of 1232 low back pain subjects found a MCID pain intensity of
2 (meaning a 2 point change on a scale of 0 no pain to 10 worst
imaginable pain). That is not a big move but is reasonable.
(2) It is a statistic to consider. Compared
with medical and surgical outcomes for back pain treatment that are as low
as 10% or 30% expected improvement MCID, our Tonawanda chiropractic
clinical outcome goals are high and frequently
achievable.
THE CHALLENGE OF CHIROPRACTIC RESEARCH – AND HOW CHIROPRACTIC
ANSWERS
Chiropractic, like other complementary and integrative
healthcare professions, experiences a little more difficulty
in maintaining a flow of research as many
programs are not in large university situations
with well-established and well-financed research departments. Global
chiropractic researchers are looking for a solution. Australia, Canada, and Denmark chiropractic
researchers have formed a leadership academy (CARL – Chiropractic
Academy for Research Leadership) for early-career chiropractic researchers to stimulate
more chiropractic research. US-based researchers are turning to
the RAND Corporation’s Center for Collaborative CIH Research to assemble
research talent and assets to elevate
chiropractic’s quality and quantity of research. (3,4) Strong research continues at chiropractic universities to document the
benefits of chiropractic for musculoskeletal-related pain like back pain, neck
pain, arm pain and leg pain.
CONTACT Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation
Listen to this PODCAST
with Ram Gudavalli, PhD, principal investigator of many Cox® Technic research
studies, on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he
illustrates research studies he’s managed.
Make your next Tonawanda
chiropractic appointment today. Bring your questions about the research
supporting our chiropractic care with you! Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation loves to share research!