The Evidence Based Chiropractor Blog

Hundreds of chiropractic marketing and research articles to help you grow.

Jeff Langmaid 5/5/14 Jeff Langmaid 5/5/14

Spine Fusion For Low Back Pain Remains Controversial- by The Evidence Based Chiropractor

"Overall, limited evidence suggests that spinal fusion compared with physical therapy improves pain and function for adults undergoing fusion for low back pain due to disc degeneration. The evidence was insufficient to draw evidence-based conclusions for the benefits and harms of spinal fusion for patients with degenerative stenosis." - John Bartleson, MD

This quote was taken from a talk at the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting in late April 2014 in Philadelphia. Later, he cited a 10% - 20% complication rate in the surgical candidates for these surgeries. It is important to note that he links low back pain with degenerative stenosis and does not singularly identify the claudication associated stenosis. Research regarding chiropractic flexion-distraction and stenosis has proven to be fruitful, however, many MD's are still unaware at how much of an impact flexion-distraction technique can have on patients suffering from stenosis. Additionally, I have no seen a chiropractic complication rate (for flexion-distraction) even approach 1%; which is far superior for a surgical complication rate of 10 -20%.

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Jeff Langmaid 4/29/14 Jeff Langmaid 4/29/14

Adjacent Segment Disease Stands at 15% for Lumbar Fusion- by The Evidence Based Chiropractor

New research from SPINE shows a 15% cumulative adjacent segment disease rate for patients undergoing posterior lumbar spinal fusions. Adjacent segment disease is the accelerated degenerative patter often found in the "healthy" vertebrae either above or below a fusion site. This process and diagnosis can often lead to more surgery.

Fusions which have an "anchor" site at L5-S1 (the lowest segments of the low back) tend to have slightly less adjacent segment disease than "floating" fusions without the anchor site. Also, it is important to note that they found over 40% of patients experienced continued or recurrent back pain, and over 28% experienced continued or recurrent radiculopathy. These are just a few reasons why it is imperative to exhaust every conservative care option prior to surgical intervention.

J Neurosurg Spine. 2014; doi: 10.3171/2013.12.SPINE13789

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Jeff Langmaid 4/25/14 Jeff Langmaid 4/25/14

MRI Findings Correlated with Pain Levels? - by The Evidence Based Chiropractor

Exciting new research is examining an algorithmic relationship between "% MRI Index" and Pain Levels in Chronic Low Back Pain. This research was recently released by SPINE Journal and highlighted for our members as a part of their April 2014 Monthly MD Research Brief.

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Jeff Langmaid 4/16/14 Jeff Langmaid 4/16/14

"Back Pain- 5 Things You Need to Know" from The Evidence Based Chiropractor

We are happy to release our first publication in our new patient education series. You can get a FREE copy of "Back Pain-5 Things You Need to Know" right HERE.

Jeff Langmaid 4/4/14 Jeff Langmaid 4/4/14

SPINE JOURNAL regarding chiropractic, "a statistically and clinically significant benefit..."

In 2013, SPINE Journal produced the research article, "Adding Chiropractic Manipulative Therapy to Standard Medical Care for Patients with Acute Low Back Pain: The Results of a Pragmatic Randomized Comparative Effectiveness Study."

In it, the authors came to the following conclusions-

“The results of this trial suggest that Chiropractic Manipulative Therapy in conjunction with standard medial care offer a significant advantage for decreasing pain and improving physical functioning when compared to standard care alone, for men and women between the ages of 18-35 with acute low back pain.”

“There was a statistically and clinically significant benefit to those patients receiving chiropractic manipulative treatment...”

“The majority of systematic reviews find that chiropractic manipulative therapy appears to reduce pain and disability at least moderately for many low back pain patients.”

“73% of participants in the SMC plus CMT group rated their global improvement as pain completely gone, much better, or moderately better, compared with 17% in the SMC group.”

This is further proof that working together and promoting multidisciplinary care will yield superior outcomes for our patients.