Chiropractic Check Up and Tune Up

​Estimates from the Australian Bureau of Statistics 2017-18 National Health estimate that about 4.0 million Australians (about 16% of Australia) have back problems. It has been estimated that 70-90% of people will suffer from lower back pain in some form at some points in their lives. Have you or a loved one experience neck or back pain? This is an important article that could make the world of difference to you.
 
“One study of people with long term back problems reported 14% experience constant or persistent pain, and 86% experience pain one day per week” (1)
 
The acute episode of spinal pain, similarly to an episode of asthma, may be short-lived, but the condition is often, as for asthma, life-long. (2) So it is important that it is well managed and taken care of, especially getting to the underlying cause. Although maintenance care is often used within chiropractic clinics, where care is provided beyond reducing symptoms, or as a form of precaution to keep patients healthy; there has been a lack of research. (2)
 
A recent high quality research article looked at literature based on a research program exploring maintenance care among chiropractors in Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway. It was established to provide better understanding of chiropractic care. In one of the studies it was found that over a 10 year period of research, there was a considerable difference in the number of bothersome days with back pain, favouring the maintenance group compared to the group which was encouraged to ‘call when needed’ (2)(3) In another study, patients who received maintenance care had better outcomes than those who received short-term treatment or short-term sham treatment. (4)
 
Although further studies are needed, there is a positive trend towards maintenance care. Because back pain is a chronic disease for most, with episodes at short or long intervals, a preventative approach like maintenance care makes sense. (2)
 
If you want to find out if chiropractic may help manage back pain for you or your loved ones, chat with one of our chiropractors to see how they can assist.
 
“Management of pain is important. While it is vital to get to the cause of the issue, preventative measures are always better.”
 

​References

1.Quittan, M., 2002. Management of back pain. Disability and rehabilitation, 24(8), pp.423-434.
2. Axén, I., Hestbaek, L. and Leboeuf-Yde, C., 2020. Correction to: Chiropractic maintenance care-what’s new? A systematic review of the literature. Chiropractic & manual therapies, 28(1), pp.1-1.
3. Eklund A, Jensen I, Lohela-Karlsson M, Hagberg J, Leboeuf-Yde C, Kongsted A, et al. The Nordic maintenance care program: effectiveness of chiropractic maintenance care versus symptom-guided treatment for recurrent and persistent low back pain-a pragmatic randomized controlled trial. PLoS One. 2018;13(9):e0203029.
4. Senna MK, Machaly SA. Does maintained spinal manipulation therapy for chronic nonspecific low back pain result in better long-term outcome? Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2011;36(18):1427–37.