Osteopathic Manipulation vs. Standard Care for Subacute Pain
Of course, this article mentions osteopathic manipulation, but since chiropractics deliver 90% of the manipulations in the US with only 10% of the adverse side effects, who would you rather go to?? The basis of this article is that manipulation is just as effective as medications. The article does not go into the long list of potentially very harmful side effects of the meds…
Twelve weeks of osteopathic manipulation and twelve weeks of standard medical care resulted in the same degree of clinical improvement among patients with subacute back pain, according to a randomized trial by Gunnar B.J. Andersson, MD, PhD, et al. Although patients in both treatment groups made similar recoveries in the new study, Andersson et al. found an advantage for osteopathic treatment. The osteopathic treatment group used significantly less medication (e.g. NSAIDs and muscle relaxants) and physical therapy. “Given the known and potentially serious adverse effects and costs of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug therapy, the achievement of equal outcomes in regard to pain relief, function, and satisfaction, with less use of medication and physical therapy, suggests an important benefit of osteopathic manipulative treatment,” according to Andersson et al. “This type of treatment deserves careful examination through a formal cost-benefit analysis.”