Research makes the healthcare world go ‘round! Research solidifies
the role of healthcare’s relief of pain. For
chiropractic healthcare, much research entails documenting chiropractic’s benefit for painful musculoskeletal pain
issues like back pain, neck pain, arm
pain and sciatic leg pain. Aaron Chiropractic Clinic delivers just such effective,
research-documented care to our
Fort Wayne chiropractic patients.
CHALLENGE: DO HIGH QUALITY RESEARCH
A set of back pain researchers
challenged fellow researchers to come up with long-term
plans to lower the problem of low back pain
on patients and healthcare systems. They clarified
that developing effective strategies remains a
huge job for back pain clinicians, doctors, and
researchers. Vexingly, back pain disability levels have not
improved despite a larger number of
published research reports regarding back pain care.
No consensus on the optimal way to handle low back pain
has been agreed upon. Non-drug and non-invasive approaches
like exercise, manual therapy, massage, and such are general
recommendations. Other reviewing researchers pointed
to a few problems with back pain research: design
and analysis within the treatment clinical trials. (1) Designing research
studies is tough. Coming up with a “sham”
protocol for spinal manipulation that feels like spinal
manipulation is really challenging. (Just touching a spine can
help some, but that’s 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 make note of changes and effects. Fortuitously, Cox®
Technic research has a mix of biomechanical and clinical
observational studies resulting in case reports, case series, as well as
retrospective and prospective clinical studies. Aaron Chiropractic Clinic feels this mix of
research support helps outline the expectations our Fort Wayne chiropractic
patients may expect.
MINIMAL CLINICAL IMPORTANCE
Sometimes, chiropractic
physicians and low back pain patients alike are frustrated
with the outcomes of treatment for back pain. They should not
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 offered 50%
improvement in 30 days as the aim…and still does. Many
times, chiropractic patients realize that 50% relief in fewer
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 attaining
relief or only reaches 30% or 40%. Some patients desire more while
others, particularly patients who have already
undergone 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 change on a scale of 0 no pain to 10 worst
imaginable pain). That’s not a huge 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 Fort Wayne 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 keeping research flowing as many
programs are not incorporated into large university situations
with well-established and well-financed research departments. Global
chiropractic researchers are seeking 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 looking to
the RAND Corporation’s Center for Collaborative CIH Research to assemble
research talent and resources to advance
chiropractic’s quality and quantity of research. (3,4) Robust 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 Aaron 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
illustrates research studies of which he’s been a
part.
Make your next Fort Wayne
chiropractic appointment today. Bring your questions about the research
behind our chiropractic care with you! Aaron Chiropractic Clinic is always
ready to share research!