Research makes the healthcare world go ‘round! Research solidifies
the role of healthcare’s relief of pain. In
chiropractic healthcare, much research entails documenting chiropractic’s benefit for painful musculoskeletal pain
issues like back pain, neck pain, arm
pain and sciatic leg pain. Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn offers just such effective,
research-documented care to our
Ashburn chiropractic patients.
CHALLENGE: DO HIGH QUALITY RESEARCH
One group of back pain researchers
challenged fellow researchers to develop long-term
plans to decrease the burden of low back pain
on patients and healthcare systems. They explained
that developing effective strategies remains a
huge job for back pain clinicians, doctors, and
researchers. Vexingly, back pain disability levels have not
improved despite an increased quantity of
published research papers regarding back pain care.
No consensus on the best way to handle low back pain
has been agreed upon. Non-drug and non-invasive methods
like exercise, manual therapy, massage, and such are general
recommendations. Another group of reviewing researchers pointed
to a few problems with back pain research: design
and analysis within the treatment clinical trials. (1) Designing research
studies is tough. Coming up with a “sham”
protocol for spinal manipulation that feels like spinal
manipulation is especially challenging. (Just touching a spine can
help some, but that is a topic for a
different discussion!) Observational studies are the
next best thing. How so? Researchers observe what happens to patients when they undergo treatment and report
on changes and effects. Fortunately, Cox®
Technic research has a mix of biomechanical and clinical
observational studies resulting in case reports, case series, as well as
retrospective and prospective clinical studies. Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn feels this mix of
research support helps outline the expectations our Ashburn chiropractic
patients may anticipate.
MINIMAL CLINICAL IMPORTANCE
Sometimes, chiropractic
physicians and low back pain patients alike find themselves frustrated
with the outcomes of treatment for back pain. They should not
be! In medicine, the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) is reported 30% or 20% and even 10% improvement. That is reported to
be an “effective” outcome. Cox® Technic has proposed 50%
improvement in 30 days as the aim…and still does. Often, chiropractic patients realize 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 reaching
relief or only reaches 30% or 40%. Some patients want more while
others, particularly 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 found a MCID pain intensity of
2 (meaning a 2 point move on a scale of 0 no pain to 10 worst
imaginable pain). That’s not a huge move but is realistic.
(2) It is a statistic to share. Weighed against medical and surgical outcomes for back pain treatment that are as low
as 10% or 30% expected improvement MCID, our Ashburn chiropractic
clinical outcome goals 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 difficulty
in maintaining a flow of research as many
programs are not in large university settings
with well-established and well-financed research departments. Global
chiropractic researchers are looking for a solution. 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 looking 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) Strong research continues at chiropractic universities to document the
benefits of chiropractic for musculoskeletal-related pain like back pain, neck
pain, arm pain and leg pain.
CONTACT Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn
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 Ashburn
chiropractic appointment today. Bring your questions about the research
behind our chiropractic care with you! Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn is always
ready to share research!