As a chiropractor, I obviously have an opinion on this one. My profession has had a tendency to get dirt flung at it in the past. We’ve always been treated as the red headed stepchild of healthcare despite very strong evidence that we are damn good at treating patients effectively and saving money while doing it.
But what about those chiropractors that want you to come back endlessly week after week after month after month, even after the pain’s gone?
Personally, in our office I always explain to patients that, so long as they avoid gravity, stress and computers they’ll probably be just fine going forward. After all, chiropractic care is an intervention–I’m doing something to the patient that they can’t do themselves. I do not believe that, in a perfect world, we should need any type of intervention. But, given the reality of our lifestyles, however, my biased opinion is that some degree of regular care is good.
That may mean weekly for those with decades of musculoskeletal “baggage” from decades of improperly treated pain. Or every month or every few months for the average person. This has always seemed to work out well, although this has been limited to my own experiences and opinion.
Now this particular study adds some evidential weight to my personal experiences. This looked at patients with chronic low back pain. Basically, the participants in this study who were seen for an initial course of chiropractic care but were seen every other week after the initial trial of care did better after 10 months than those who did not receive the regular care.
Maybe we’re not so crazy after all…