Millions of patients each year experience pain relief and improved mobility from the care delivered by doctors of chiropractic.
Chiropractic has been a healthcare profession for 125 years 1, helping people with back and neck pain, headaches and other types of “neuro-musculoskeletal” pain — while also improving mobility and performance. Today, doctors of chiropractic (DC) provide care in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and other countries, including Portugal, South Africa, Malaysia, Ireland, Canada, Mexico, Great Britain, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines and Japan. Nearly 36 million individuals in the U.S. each year seek care f rom a DC, and more than 700 million people each year visit a DC worldwide.
Not only are these individuals satisfied with their chiropractic care, but scientific studies have also shown chiropractic adjustments are effective for relieving acute and chronic pain, particularly in the back and neck, while also improving mobility. Chiropractic patients also tend to use fewer over-the-counter (OTC) and prescription painkillers and have an overall improved sense of well-being2thanks to continued chiropractic care. DCs could be the right choice for your health. Like all healthcare decisions, it is important to learn more about the main treatment option performed by DCs, the chiropractic adjustment.
What is a chiropractic adjustment?
Chiropractic adjustments are a form of spinal manipulative therapy (SMT). An adjustment involves a DC using his or her hands and/or an instrument to apply a controlled force to a joint to restore proper function and mobility. Before delivering an adjustment, the DC needs to learn more about your health and health history. The doctor will ask you about your health concerns, including related symptoms, daily activities, sleep habits, nutrition and any prescription or OTC medications or supplements, and perform a physical exam. The DC will then recommend the best care approach to help you achieve your health goals, which may or may not include the chiropractic adjustment as this therapy may not be right for everyone.
When an adjustment is performed, you may hear popping sounds coming f rom the area being treated. These sounds, called joint cavitation, are normal and caused by the exchange of gases such as oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide around the joint. After the adjustment, pain relief is often immediate, but can be short lived. Your DC may recommend following with a treatment regimen including multiple visits to help your body maintain mobility and function. In fact, some patients choose to continue receiving adjustments after pain relief for prevention, but also due to the improved sense of well-being they feel with chiropractic care.3
Why get an adjustment?
Chiropractic adjustments can allow pain relief to occur naturally without the need for OTC medications or prescription painkillers. These medications can pose a significant health risk to yourself and studies have found opioids to be ineffective3 for chronic pain relief. Chiropractic patients with back and neck pain have been shown to have 55% lower odds of filling an opioid prescription. In addition to less prescriptive painkiller use, more than half (52%) of adults who saw a DC for significant neck or back pain said it was because the DC offered “the most effective treatment for my pain,” a result found by the Gallup-Palmer College of Chiropractic 2018 Annual Report.
Scientific evidence continues to mount for the use of adjustments to relieve low back and other types of musculoskeletal pain. The U.S. Department of Defense recently funded three clinical trials4 that concluded chiropractic care improves strength and endurance and decreases pain measures for active duty service members with low back pain. As a result of the mounting evidence, several medical societies5 and other industry organizations have changed their guidelines for managing pain to include spinal manipulation. Leading scientific journals such as The Lancet6 and the World Health Organization Bulletin7 have also urged healthcare providers to first consider drug-free pain management therapies, such as chiropractic adjustments, for low back pain.
Why are DCs the healthcare practitioner most commonly recommended to provide adjustments?
DCs receive a minimum of 4,200 hours of classroom, laboratory and clinical internship followed by national board exams, state licensure exams and continuing education focusing specifically on a drug-free, hands-on approach to healthcare that includes patient examination, diagnosis and treatment. Most people are unaware that the typical DC program is equivalent in classroom hours10 to allopathic and osteopathic medical schools. A study recently published in JAMA Network11 found spinal manipulation delivered by physical therapists and doctors of osteopathic medicine, who receive less official training in adjustments than DCs, were not effective for pain relief or physical function in chronic low back pain patients. That study did not include DCs, while other studies of adjustments performed by DCs have found that patients more commonly do experience pain relief12 and improved function13.Additionally, DCs are often focused on more than just pain relief. The chiropractic profession is a holistic healthcare practice concerned with improving overall health and well-being and it is common for patients to experience numerous other benefits in addition to reduced neuro-musculoskeletal pain. A holistic view is also why DCs will recommend a comprehensive care plan that includes exercise, stretching, nutrition and lifestyle changes.