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. Amelia Chiropractic Clinic delivers just such effective,
research-documented care to our
Fernandina Beach chiropractic patients.
CHALLENGE: DO HIGH QUALITY RESEARCH
One group of back pain researchers
challenged fellow researchers to come up with long-term
plans to decrease the burden of low back pain
on patients and healthcare systems. They described
that developing effective strategies continues to be a
daunting job for back pain clinicians, doctors, and
researchers. Vexingly, back pain disability levels have not
improved despite an increased quantity of
published research reports regarding back pain care.
No consensus on the best way to manage low back pain
has been achieved. Non-drug and non-invasive approaches
like exercise, manual therapy, massage, and such are typical
recommendations. Another group of reviewing researchers indicated a few issues with back pain research: design
and analysis within the treatment clinical trials. (1) Designing research
studies is difficult. Designing a “sham”
protocol for spinal manipulation that seems like spinal
manipulation is really challenging. (Just touching a spine can
help some, but that’s a topic for another article!) Observational studies are the next in line. How so? Researchers observe what happens to patients when they go
through treatment and report
on changes and effects. Fortuitously, Cox®
Technic research has a blend of biomechanical and clinical
observational studies resulting in case reports, case series, as well as
retrospective and prospective clinical studies. Amelia Chiropractic Clinic feels this mix of
research support helps explain to our Fernandina Beach chiropractic patients
what clinical outcome relief they may anticipate.
MINIMAL CLINICAL IMPORTANCE
Sometimes, chiropractic
physicians and low back pain patients alike find themselves 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 is reported to
be an “effective” outcome. Cox® Technic has offered 50%
improvement in 30 days as the goal…and still does. Many
times, chiropractic patients find that 50% relief in less
than 30 days and that the 50% relief is closer to
70% or 80% or 90%! Sometimes, a patient’s response may be slower in getting
relief or only reaches 30% or 40%. Some patients want more while
others, especially patients who have previously
gone through back surgery or sought non-relieving care
from many other providers, are excited. A study
of 1232 low back pain subjects discovered a MCID pain intensity of
2 (meaning a 2 point move on a scale of 0 no pain to 10 worst
imaginable pain). That’s not a big move but is realistic.
(2) It’s a statistic to share. Weighed against medical and surgical outcomes for back pain treatment that are as low
as 10% or 30% expected improvement MCID, our Fernandina Beach chiropractic
clinical outcome objectives are high and frequently
achievable.
THE CHALLENGE OF CHIROPRACTIC RESEARCH – AND HOW CHIROPRACTIC
ANSWERS
Chiropractic, like other complementary and integrative
healthcare professions, has a little more difficulty
in maintaining a flow of research as many
programs are not incorporated into large university settings
with well-established and well-funded research departments. Global
chiropractic researchers are looking for am amswer. Australia, Canada, and Denmark chiropractic
researchers have formed a leadership academy (CARL – Chiropractic
Academy for Research Leadership) for early-career chiropractic researchers to promote
more chiropractic research. US-based researchers are looking to
the RAND Corporation’s Center for Collaborative CIH Research to assemble
research talent and resources to elevate
chiropractic’s quality and quantity of research. (3,4) Solid research continues at chiropractic universities to record the
benefits of chiropractic for musculoskeletal-related pain like back pain, neck
pain, arm pain and leg pain.
CONTACT Amelia Chiropractic Clinic
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
explains research studies of which he’s been a
part.
Schedule your next Fernandina Beach
chiropractic appointment now. Bring your questions about the research
behind our chiropractic care with you! Amelia Chiropractic Clinic loves to share research!