I Don't Believe in Chiropractic

One thing I often hear when I tell people I am a chiropractic doctor is “I just don’t believe in that stuff”.  This is almost always coming from someone who has never been to a chiropractor, has no idea what it is we really do, and has no idea that chiropractors actually receive more hours of class room training than medical doctors.  Now I must admit that chiropractic as a profession is partly to blame for the fact that many people don’t “believe” in its effectiveness.  The only way for something to be “proven” is through very expensive clinical trials.  It can cost up to 5 million dollars for clinical trials.  These studies are often paid for by drug companies that can afford to invest in the trials, and make the money back once the drug is approved.  No drug company is going to sponsor a study that shows that you can cure back pain without drugs!

In today’s economic times insurance companies and governments are starting to realize how important it is to get the best results for the least money.  Chiropractic care has always been cheaper than the standard medical route.  As a result a large study has recently been funded.  It compared outcomes for patients with acute mechanical low back pain (AM-LBP) who received treatment by chiropractors to usual care (UC) which meant an evaluation by a family physician and then referral to a physical therapist, physiatrist or massage therapist.  The study proved what chiropractic patients have known for over a hundred years, chiropractic works!  The study found that the group treated with chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy had much better outcomes than the group that received usual care.  So now if you say they you don’t believe in chiropractic, it is essentially like saying you don’t believe in gravity.

The study can be found here 

This is a direct quote from the study

CONCLUSIONS: This is the first reported randomized controlled trial comparing full CPG-based treatment, including spinal manipulative therapy administered by chiropractors, to family physician-directed UC in the treatment of patients with AM-LBP. Compared to family physician-directed UC, full CPG-based treatment including CSMT  is associated with significantly greater improvement in condition-specific functioning.