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CHIROPRACTIC
Some 30 studies have pitted chiropractic adjustment against treatments for back pain from bed rest to back-supporting corsets to exercise, and chiropractors have the clear edge. Some recent trials are especially impressive, having finally addressed a conspicuous flaw in previous studies, namely, that they didn't determine whether chiropractic accomplishes anything that techniques of physical therapy couldn't do.
In one experiment Nortin Hadler, a rheumatologist at the University of North Carolina, took 54 patients with lower back pain and gave them all the kind of muscle massage used by physical therapists. But half the group also received a single chiropractic adjustment. During the following week, the group treated with chiropractic reported feeling significantly less pain; these subjects had regained more mobility as well. Eight studies that have used a similar methodology have all affirmed the value of adjustments.
The bottom line:
A federal panel concluded that spinal manipulation can offer some much-needed, albeit modest, relief for lower back pain -- at least in the first four weeks of symptoms. For a referral, call your doctor or health plan. Avoid chiropractors who insist on taking X-rays during the first visit or who urge you to keep returning even after you feel better.
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