Research makes the healthcare world go ‘round! Research solidifies
the role of healthcare’s pain relieving ability. In
chiropractic healthcare, much research entails providing
evidence of chiropractic’s benefit for painful musculoskeletal conditions like back pain, neck pain, arm
pain and sciatic leg pain. New Roads Chiropractic Center delivers just such effective,
research-documented care to our
New Roads chiropractic patients.
CHALLENGE: DO HIGH QUALITY RESEARCH
A group of back pain researchers
challenged fellow researchers to create long-term
plans to reduce the burden of low back pain
on sufferers and healthcare systems. They explained
that developing effective strategies remains a
daunting job for back pain clinicians, doctors, and
researchers. Vexingly, back pain disability levels have not
increased despite a larger number of
published research papers about back pain care.
No consensus on the best way to manage low back pain
has been agreed upon. Non-drug and non-invasive methods
like exercise, manual therapy, massage, and such are typical
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 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 is a topic for another article!) Observational studies are the
next best thing. How so? Researchers observe how
patients respond when they go
through treatment and describe 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. New Roads Chiropractic Center feels this mix of
research support helps outline the expectations our New Roads chiropractic
patients may expect.
MINIMAL CLINICAL IMPORTANCE
Occasionally, chiropractic
physicians and low back pain patients alike are frustrated
with the outcomes of treatment for back pain. They shouldn’t
be! In medicine, the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) is defined
as 30% or 20% and even 10% improvement. That’s reported to
be an “effective” outcome. Cox® Technic has proposed 50%
improvement in 30 days as the goal…and still does. Often, chiropractic patients find that 50% relief in less
than a month and that the 50% relief is more like
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 already
had back surgery or sought non-relieving care
from many other providers, are thrilled. 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’s a statistic to consider. Weighed against medical and surgical outcomes for back pain treatment that are as low
as 10% or 30% expected improvement MCID, our New Roads 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 effort
in maintaining a flow of research as many
programs are not incorporated into large university settings
with well-established and well-financed research departments. Global
chiropractic researchers are looking for am amswer. Australia, Canada, and Denmark chiropractic
researchers have created a leadership academy (CARL – Chiropractic
Academy for Research Leadership) for early-career chiropractic researchers to promote
more chiropractic research. US-based researchers are turning to
the RAND Corporation’s Center for Collaborative CIH Research to combine
research talent and resources to elevate
chiropractic’s quality and quantity of research. (3,4) Solid research carries
on at chiropractic universities to document the
benefits of chiropractic for musculoskeletal-related pain like back pain, neck
pain, arm pain and leg pain.
CONTACT New Roads Chiropractic Center
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
describes research studies of which he’s been a
part.
Schedule your next New Roads
chiropractic appointment today. Bring your questions about the research
supporting our chiropractic care with you! New Roads Chiropractic Center is always
ready to share research!