In September 2010, Professor Bronfort reviewed the level of evidence for manipulation sciatica/radiating leg pain in the light of a paper by Scantilli et al. Following his review he concluded that chiropractic treatment showed a ‘moderate level of positive evidence’ when compared with sham manipulation for sciatica and radiation leg pain in the short and long term. Scantilli et al. Spine J. 2006 March-April, 6 (2):131-7

 

Exercises help chiropractic manipulation last longer.

The use of exercises in conjunction with manipulation has also been found to speed and improve outcomes as well as minimize episodic outcomes. Lawrence et al. JMPT. 2008, Nov-Dec; 31(9) 659-74
Treatment of Back Pain  which incorporates chiropractic care wins an award

At the annual meeting of the North  American Spine Society (NASS ) held in Orlando, Canadian chiropractor and medical researcher Paul Bishop, DC, MD, PhD, and his co-authors were awarded the 2010 Outstanding Paper Award for Medical and Interventional Science for a paper titled “The Hospital-Based Interventions Research Outcomes (CHIRO) Study: A Randomized Controlled Trial on the Effectiveness of Clinical Practice Guidelines in the Medical and Chiropractic Management of Patients with Acute Mechanical Lower Back Pain”.

This study compared two protocols for the management of patients with acute low-back pain:

  • Usual family physician- directed care and
  • care according to current clinical practice guidelines (reassurance and avoidance of passive treatments; acetaminophen; four weeks of lumbar chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy).

The guidelines-based treatment i.e. the one which includes four weeks of chiropractic care, was associated with significantly greater improvement. Bishop, Quon, Fisher and Dvorak. (2010)The Spine Journal.
Accordingly here we have the leading organization for North American spine specialists awarding its prize to a group of researchers (that included a chiropractor and medical doctors) who reported a randomized controlled trial demonstrating the value of management of back pain patients where a central component was chiropractic adjustment or manipulation. Perhaps this, as much as any other fact, illustrates why this has been such a good year for the profession.