The Top 5 Researched Benefits of Chiropractic

New research has showcased an array of health benefits you can expect after receiving chiropractic adjustments.

Whether you are an elite athlete, weekend warrior, battling back from an injury, or just looking to live your best life- chiropractic has been shown to provide many benefits that can improve your quality of life.

Get the 5 Top Benefits as a Patient Friendly Handout!

1. Pain Reduction

The first benefit of chiropractic care may be the most impactful- reducing your pain. Before you are living your optimal life, you have to be free of pain.

Multiple research studies have shown that chiropractic is considered one of the most safe and effective treatments to reduce pain from your neck, low back, and more. Even if you are suffering from spinal stenosis, disc herniations, or foraminal encroachment- chiropractic may be able to help.

““Patients with symptomatic MRI-confirmed cervical disk herniations treated with SMT to the level of herniation reported high levels of clinically relevant improvement at 2 weeks, 1 month, and 3 months after the first treatment.””

— Outcomes from Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Confirmed Symptomatic Cervical Disk Herniation Patients Treated with High-Velocity, Low-Amplitude Spinal Manipulative Therapy. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. October 2013

““Most of the patients who were considered surgical candidates for the treatment of radiculopathy from LDH improved with standardized spinal manipulative care to the same degree as those who had undergone surgery. Of those who failed spinal manipulation treatment, subsequent surgical intervention provided excellent outcome.””

— Manipulation or Microdiskectomy for Sciatica? A Prospective Randomized Clinical Study. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. Volume 33, Number 8. October 2010

2. Reduce the Frequency, Severity, and Intensity of Headaches

The second health benefit of chiropractic care, especially important if you have struggled with chronic headaches. Researchers have discovered that chiropractic care can reduce the frequency and intensity of headaches.

With over 20 million people suffering from headaches every day, this is a massive development in healthcare! The most common type of headaches includes; tension headaches and migraines. Tension headaches often include neck pain, muscle pain, and facial pain. Migraines are usually throbbing, can cause nausea and light sensitivity, and some even include an aura.

““With regard to the weekly register on frequency and intensity of pain, these parameters showed significant improvement in the groups with manipulation and combined treatment...””

— Efficacy of Manual and Manipulative Therapy in the Perception of Pain and Cervical Motion in Patients with Tension-Type Headache: A Randomized, Controlled Clinical Trial. Journal of Chiropractic Medicine. (2014) 13, 4-13

3. Improved Function and Quality of Life

Many people don't go to the doctor when they have pain. They go to the doctor when that pain interferes with their quality of life!

If you have a healthcare issue that is keeping you for enjoying your hobbies, hanging out with friends and family, and limit your ability to perform well at work- then you are likely going to start researching on Google and eventually call a doctor to get answers.

Fortunately, getting back to your active lifestyle, and improving your quality of life (or in science-speak, "functional ability") is one proven benefits of chiropractic care.

4. Reduced Medication Usage

Reducing medication use, and specifically opioids are one of the primary focuses of our healthcare world today.

Each day over 100 people die due to an opioid overdose. And it's not only affecting addicts and junkies. A majority of opioid deaths come from people who were taking medications prescribed by their doctor.

Not only are these medications addictive and deadly, but in many cases, they are ineffective at helping people recover from spine pain, which is why most people start taking them. This vicious cycle leads people to take MORE medication an attempt to find relief, which only increases the likelihood of an adverse event or addiction.

There is a better way. Researchers have discovered that people who receive chiropractic care are 49% less likely to fill an opioid prescription. And, in my opinion, if we were able to reduce opioid use by nearly 50% just be helping people get well with chiropractic care- this world would be a different place!

Even what many people consider to be "safe" medications like NSAID's contribute to over 100,000 hospitalizations, and over 3,000 deaths each year. Drugs should rarely be viewed as a first line treatment for spinal pain. Your body is designed to move and recover- so going to a doctor focused on movement and recovery seems like a good idea to not only reduce your medication use but to get the best results possible.

“patients who visited a chiropractor for a musculoskeletal pain condition were 49% less likely to receive an opioid prescription than their counterparts who went to other healthcare providers.”

— MedScape- Chiropractic Care Tied to Significant Reduction in Opioid Scripts

5. Sports Performance Improvements

Did you know that every major sports team has a chiropractor available to their athletes to help with injury prevention and sports performance?

That's right, teams in the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL all have chiropractors integrated into their healthcare team to keep their athletes performing at their top level all season long.

No one can perform their best when in pain, so chiropractors are used to keeping the athletes feeling good, but with a focus and eye towards sport-specific performance.

Working with the athletes on flexibility, biomechanics, and range of motion, and sport-focused training is critical to raising the bar of performance.

““The increased V-wave amplitudes observed in the current study possibly reflect an increased cortical drive in the cortico-spinal pathways and corresponding increased excitability of the motoneuron following spinal manipulation.””

— The effects of a single session of spinal manipulation on strength and cortical drive in athletes. European Journal of Applied Physiology. January 2018

Quite frankly, whether you are working at an office or whether you are on the professional sports field, a balance of strength and flexibility is one of the top keys to stay well long term.

So those are the five significant benefits of chiropractic care. If you've experienced any of those, please comment down below let us know, or if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer those as well.

Get the 5 Top Benefits as a Patient Friendly Handout!

Amazon Buys PillPack for $1 Billion Dollars

Amazon has made their big play into the healthcare space by purchasing Pillpack. Pillpack is an online pharmacy retailer operating in nearly all 50 states. 

So what is the play? Pillpack generates about 100 million dollars in revenue. But here is the rub. As soon as Amazon announced this acquisition, it shaved 13 billion dollars off of the pharmacy industry! CVS, Walgreens, and other pharmacies saw their stocks drop 10 percent or more. 

That's why it's a billion-dollar play. This is going to mean people have access to medications easier than ever before, with potentially the next day, same day, or even within the one-hour delivery. It is going to make the availability of these prescriptions much more convenient. That's Amazon's model- ease of use and getting products to consumers as quickly as possible. That ease of use is going to make things challenging in the conservative healthcare space. Now more than ever the public needs to understand that quite often; surgery, medications, and or injections are not the answer to their problem. For a majority of individuals  (as we've seen with the pill and the opioid crisis) the use of medications and drugs provide short-term gains with significant long-term repercussions. 

So Amazon has made their billion dollar play into the healthcare space, and it is all about the pharmacy for them. So it is all essential for us to stay diligent to get our message out there and to make sure we are communicating pro-actively with our patients in our community because their ease of getting medications just got a lot a lot easier. 
 

Tips to Protect Your Spine This Holiday - Dr. Langmaid featured on Studio10 Live

Just last week, I was able to be featured on Studio10 Live morning show giving holiday travel tips to the people of Tampa Bay.

We focused on the items below-
Check your posture. Remember all of those times your mother told you to sit up straight with your feet on the ground? Well, believe it or not, she was actually teaching you a very valuable lesson in posture, one that could mean the difference between bliss and pain for your back. When traveling make sure that you are sitting upright with your knees at no greater than a 90-degree angle.
Embrace heat. Whether you are traveling, visiting a friend, shopping or just roaming around the house, heat therapy can help reduce your chronic back pain. Consider getting the heating pads that adhere to your body to help with inflammation. You can remove or reposition them at any time.
Stretch it out. Take some time to walk around and stretch your legs and arms once every hour. Getting up to walk around and stretch can do wonders when you’re trying to avoid a flare-up of your chronic pain on a cross-country flight. That’s because stretching increases blood flow, elongates muscles to promote flexibility and can keep your back and leg muscles limber, all of which can help prevent your chronic back pain from turning your flight into a nightmare.
Make sure you pack smart. Though not having to wait in the baggage claim line may seem like a good idea before you are trucking your luggage from one end of the airport to the other, carrying around heavy bags will do more damage than good to your back. Make sure any luggage you have to carry for a prolonged amount of time is a manageable weight, or on wheels.
Wear the right shoes. Traveling is not high fashion, and the runways at the airport are for planes — not heels. Choose shoes that provide good arch support and comfort this season, and your back will thank you.
Just rest. If your baggage allows, bring along a pillow for extra neck support while you dream away your stress.

View fullsize

Dr. Langmaid Live on Studio10

Video Block

Double-click here to add a video by URL or embed code. Learn more

---

-The Evidence Based Chiropractor has assisted hundreds of chiropractors around the globe build interdisciplinary referral relationships.

Have you viewed our FREE Guides?  Download The MD Meeting and the 5 Secrets to MD Referrals today

How Chiropractic Posters Can Inspire Your Patients!

Exude a modern edge with our chiropractic posters

View fullsize

Lets face it, the reception rooms in many chiropractic offices look as though they got stuck in 1965. Some docs routinely update the carpet, change out chairs, and develop a better workflow around the front desk; but what about your walls?

Most people develop opinions very fast.  I'm talking like split second fast. Malcolm Gladwell's book Blink goes into this phenomenon in heavy detail.  Without even "thinking" your patients are developing thoughts, attitudes, and exceptions about your practice when they first walk through your doors.  This is a huge opportunity to set the stage for premier care. Or, conversely, it is a huge opportunity to develop an initial psychological hurdle to health. Personally, I want my patients to not only walk into my office with a sense of trust, but also with the desire to nurture the seeds of healing.  The message which you convey on your walls influences your patients more than you realize!

As I began to furnish my office I was struck with the lack of modern, well designed, educational, and relevant chiropractic office posters. So with the assistance of the leading design firm Harbr, I was able to develop our set of chiropractic posters. These chiropractor posters are actually more akin to a high-quality print than a traditional poster. We use extra thick paper to capture the highest image quality possible.  Then we ship them rolled in damage resistant tubes so they are ready to hang upon arrival at your office.  

Your patients are making split second judgement and decisions based upon your office decor. Inspire a setting of health and healing with our chiropractic poster set. Don't miss an opportunity to impact your patients perception of your office in a positive way!

Simply click here to purchase our beautiful chiropractic posters either as a set or a la carte. Orders will ship tomorrow.

---

-The Evidence Based Chiropractor has assisted hundreds of chiropractors around the globe build interdisciplinary referral relationships.

Have you viewed our FREE Guides?  Download The MD Meeting and the 5 Secrets to MD Referrals today

Over 250 Million Opioid Prescriptions in 2012- by The Evidence Based Chiropractor

An article in USA Today shed light on the fact that over a quarter BILLION opioid prescriptions were issued in 2012.  This is estimated to be enough to give a prescription to every adult in the United States.  

Research has proven the devastating effects of opioid dependency, and also exposed the startling addiction rates.  Some states in the southeast US have nearly 150 prescriptions for every 100 residents.  This is despite the fact that many national health organizations have spoke out, and recommended against, the prescriptions of opioids except in extreme circumstances.  

A crack down on the "pill mills" which were operating throughout the state of Florida resulted in a decrease of over 50% in oxycodone related deaths.  While as chiropractors we are not in a position (legal or ethical) to recommended or discontinue the medications of any patients; it is imperative that we address and promote alternative sources of pain relief.  When an physician refers a patient to a chiropractor instead of writing a prescription; it just may save a life.  

---

-The Evidence Based Chiropractor is the fastest growing chiropractic marketing group in the profession.  We are dedicated to increasing chiropractic utilization by showcasing research.  Marketing to medical doctors through research is proven, cost effective, and can dramatically improve your incoming referrals.  Join us.  Lets grow chiropractic together.