Headaches

In the September 2001 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics was a report on the effectiveness of chiropractic care, specifically labeled "SMT" in the study, for patients with chronic headaches.  The data for this report was gathered from nine trials involving 683 patients with chronic headache.

In this study chiropractic adjustments (termed SMT in the study) were compared to massage and medications for short term relief of up to six weeks after a month of care.  The question of long term health benefits was not addressed.  Results showed that the chiropractic group did better than the massage group.  The group that received medication also showed relief however, the rate of  side effects for the medication group was considerably higher than the chiropractic group.  This difference gave a decidedly large advantage to chiropractic over the medication.  

According to the report, the financial cost of headaches is great, with billions of dollars spent annually for lost productivity and treatment.  The study also noted that people affected with headaches have commonly been treated by medical practitioners. Recently however, they are increasingly turning to non-medical or alternative therapies for relief.  A recent study from Harvard University by Dr. Eisenberg reported that one of the most common alternative practitioners sought out for the treatment of headaches was the chiropractor.  This study confirms what most chiropractors and their patients have already known that chiropractic is one of the most effective avenues of health for headache sufferers.

 

Neck Pain

Neck Pain

 A pilot study published in the December 2005 scientific journal, Clinical Chiropractic, from the European association, The College of Chiropractors, showed that chiropractic helped subjects in the study with neck pain.  The study starts off by noting how common neck pain is by pointing out that more than 70% of people in the developed world will experience neck pain at some point in their lifetimes.

In this pilot study, the 21 people who completed the study, were divided into two groups for study. One group was those who had neck pain for less than 7 weeks and the other consisted of those with chronic neck pain of more than 7 weeks duration. Outcomes were measured for values such as pain, disability, and perceptions of improvements in quality of life, as well as levels of anxiety and depression. 

The 21 patients who completed the study all received a regime of chiropractic care.  The number and frequency of visits were determined by the clinical decision of the individual practitioner rendering care to the study subjects. A standardized outcome measurement was made using a scientific method called the Bournemouth Questionnaire (BQ) for neck pain.

The results showed that in the acute group, those with neck pain for less than 7 weeks, all the subjects experienced a decrease in pain with 6 of the 7 reporting a significant improvement. In the group with chronic neck pain of longer than 7 weeks, all but 2 experienced improvement. Most of that group had significant improvement, while one reported no change and one was worse at the end of the study.

The acute neck pain patients were usually suffering from more severe pain than were those with chronic pain.

Researchers summed up the results by stating, "The results demonstrate a positive effect for chiropractic on symptoms of neck pain. The more chronic the presentation, the more treatments were required to achieve asymptomatic status."

 

 



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