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Chiropractors may be no use in treating back pain, study says
www.guardian.co.uk/science ^ | 11/09/2007 | Alok Jha

Posted on 11/09/2007 12:21:14 PM PST by Red Badger

Going to a chiropractor to treat back pain could be a waste of time, according to a new study which found that having your spine manipulated does nothing to speed up recovery. Current treatment guidelines for acute back pain recommend that, in the first instance, GPs advise patients to remain active and avoid bed rest and take paracetamol for the pain. If that does not work, patients are referred for spinal manipulative therapy and given non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID) drugs such as ibuprofen and diclofenac to treat the pain. Mark Hancock, of the back pain research group at the University of Sydney, studied 240 patients with short-term lower back pain who had already been given both advice and paracetamol. The patients were randomly allocated to four groups and given different treatments: NSAIDs with placebo manipulative therapy; manipulative therapy with placebo drugs; drugs with therapy; or double placebo. "Neither diclofenac nor spinal manipulative therapy gave clinically useful effects on the primary outcome of time to recovery," the researchers wrote in the Lancet today. "If patients have high rates of recovery with baseline care, and no clinically worthwhile benefit from the addition of diclofenac or spinal manipulative therapy, then GPs can manage patients confidently without exposing them to increased risks and costs associated with NSAIDs or spinal manipulative therapy." In an accompanying article in the Lancet, Bart Koes of Erasmus University medical centre in Rotterdam wrote: "The limited or absent beneficial effect of diclofenac for acute lower back pain after adequate first-line treatment may have wide implications. NSAIDs are widely prescribed for a range of acute musculoskeletal disorders. The important message is that the management of acute low back pain in primary care (advice and prescription of paracetamol) is sufficient for most patients."

(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: bonecracker; chiropractor; notadoctor; pain; quack
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Okay, who's got the Master of the Obvious pic?.............
1 posted on 11/09/2007 12:21:16 PM PST by Red Badger
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To: aligncare

FYI PING!!


2 posted on 11/09/2007 12:22:04 PM PST by Roccus (Hillary........brought to you by the PRC)
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To: Red Badger

Duh!


3 posted on 11/09/2007 12:22:48 PM PST by pgyanke (Duncan Hunter 08--You want to elect a conservative? Then support a conservative!)
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To: Red Badger

I know a doctor who swears by his chiropractor. He also thinks they are great for keeping people out of the real doctors’ office


4 posted on 11/09/2007 12:23:41 PM PST by AppyPappy (If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)
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To: Red Badger

Sounds like this was written by an MD. They hate chiropractors.

Some are charlatans, some are real healers. I’ve had good luck with a couple of them through the years.


5 posted on 11/09/2007 12:23:51 PM PST by EggsAckley
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To: Red Badger

Before they go there, who paid for the study?


6 posted on 11/09/2007 12:24:19 PM PST by theDentist (Qwerty ergo typo : I type, therefore I misspelll. "What happens if neutrinos have mass?")
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To: Red Badger
Okay, who's got the Master of the Obvious pic?.....

Have mine!

7 posted on 11/09/2007 12:24:23 PM PST by cricket
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To: Red Badger

My chiro”crack”ter broke one of my ribs a few weeks ago!


8 posted on 11/09/2007 12:24:51 PM PST by Carpe Cerevisi
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To: Red Badger

I kind of read from this article that they really did not do a good study on Chiropractic and back pain.

Title should read equally...

Chiropractors may be of GREAT USE in treating back pain.


9 posted on 11/09/2007 12:25:15 PM PST by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: AppyPappy
Yep, I know a disabled retired Orthopedic surgeon who regularly goes to his Chiropractor friend for his ONLY relief.
10 posted on 11/09/2007 12:27:00 PM PST by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: A CA Guy

In my wife’s case:

Chiropractors may be at fault in CAUSING back pain.


11 posted on 11/09/2007 12:27:21 PM PST by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Red Badger
Exactly - who paid for this study???

I'd go to my chiro 3 times a week if I could afford it. NOTHING makes my back feel better for 2 or 3 weeks at a time than having my guy crack me around.

12 posted on 11/09/2007 12:28:28 PM PST by willgolfforfood
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To: Red Badger

Could be, in my opinion, only 20% of them know how to treat.

Same could be said for most professionals in health care I fear...


13 posted on 11/09/2007 12:28:39 PM PST by A CA Guy (God Bless America, God bless and keep safe our fighting men and women.)
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To: EggsAckley
Some are charlatans, some are real healers.

The "real healers" are the ones who have perfected the art of eliciting the placebo effect.The charlatans haven't.

14 posted on 11/09/2007 12:28:57 PM PST by Gay State Conservative (Wanna see how bad it can get? Elect Hillary and find out.)
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To: Red Badger
Okay, who's got the Master of the Obvious pic?.............

How's that

15 posted on 11/09/2007 12:31:21 PM PST by ReformedBeckite
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To: Red Badger

Where do they get this crap? The whole article battles a strawman from the beginning; chiropractic deals with far more than ‘manipulating’ the back.


16 posted on 11/09/2007 12:31:51 PM PST by editor-surveyor (Turning the general election into a second Democrat primary is not a winning strategy.)
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To: Gay State Conservative

Whatever.


17 posted on 11/09/2007 12:32:25 PM PST by EggsAckley
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To: Red Badger

All I know is that my friends and family who use a chiropractor say they feel better for it. Isn’t that the point?


18 posted on 11/09/2007 12:32:45 PM PST by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light..... Isaiah 5:20)
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To: willgolfforfood

You can do the same thing with an office chair and save yourself a ton of money............Don’t ask me about GEICO..............


19 posted on 11/09/2007 12:32:50 PM PST by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: AppyPappy

If there is such a thing as a ‘real’ doctor, the chiropractor has to be the closest thing to it.


20 posted on 11/09/2007 12:33:20 PM PST by editor-surveyor (Turning the general election into a second Democrat primary is not a winning strategy.)
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