Is Chiropractic Care Effective for Back Pain?

I'm taking a break from posting about my personal journey of healing from Ankylosing Spondylitis to talk about several common conditions that people around the world suffer from needlessly. By the time you reach 40 - unless you have been adjusted since birth and never engage in potentially harmful activities - you have had at least one episode of low back pain. So what is the best way of dealing with this?

You are reading a blog written by a Chiropractor, so I know you think I'm going to be biased here. I can provide a bit more input from my personal experiences with an autoimmune disease that specifically causes low back pain. I know what it's like to wake up in the morning and be unable to move from excruciating back pain. I know what it's like to crawl on your hands and knees because walking is either too painful, or because you can't get your back to extend enough to be upright. I know what it's like to take pain killers, muscle relaxers, steroids, cortisone injections, NSAIDs, and immune suppressors to get out of pain. I also know the only thing that has ever provided me with long term relief with no side effects. Let's be real - it's why I became a Chiropractor. Chiropractic works! But don't take my word for it, or my experiences.


The Ontario Ministry of Health hired a renowned heath care economist to make a recommendation on the best approach for Low Back Pain (LBP) due to increasing health care costs for this condition. The first “Manga Report” was published in 1993. This comprehensive study reviewed all the scientific literature on low back pain and made what many in the medical community found to be astonishing recommendations. It concluded that: chiropractic should be the treatment of choice for low back pain – excluding traditional medical care altogether!

Let's look at some of the specific Findings of the report:

"Chiropractic management of low-back pain is more cost-effective than medical management"

Many Insurance companies have done their own studies to arrive at the same conclusion. This is the sole reason why Chiropractic Care for Low Back Pain is a covered service by Medicare.

"Many medical therapies are of questionable validity or are clearly inadequate"

Where many insurance companies could cut premiums is right here. By eliminating questionable therapies and surgeries, health care costs for low back pain would drop significantly. The frustrating thing of the new Health Care Act is that while Chiropractic Care is supposed to be included as an essential service in the same way it is covered by Medicare, States are beginning to enact local exchanges that are excluding Chiropractic Care altogether. I imagine this will end up in the court system sooner or later, but it will be extremely frustrating for some as these "kinks" in the system are worked out.

"There is no valid study that demonstrates or even implies that chiropractic is unsafe in the treatment of low-back pain."

This is where people have somehow missed the boat. I regularly encounter people who are under the impression that Chiropractic Care is not safe. There is clearly no valid research to suggest this, and the Magna Report concurred.

"Some medical treatments are equally safe, but others are unsafe and generate further complications for LBP patients." 

Most of these claims are of no surprise to Chiropractors. We routinely talk to people who are worse off after their surgery, nerve block, or cortisone injection. The reason is that none of these address the cause of the problem - lack of motion integrity in the joints of the lower back. There is only one way to restore this integrity - Chiropractic Care. What the report did not address is that the procedures that are considered equally safe may reduce pain, but rarely improve function. Function is what allows you to pick up your grandson. It's what allows you to play golf, make dinner, clean the house, exercise, and enjoy life. "Safe" surgeries and medications may dull the pain, but they do not restore function which sets up further damage down the road. Pain is there for a reason. Your body is telling you to stop or else you will permanently damage your spine. When we dull the pain instead of addressing the loss of function, we further injure damaged tissues and potentially create a problem that is beyond the help of Chiropractic Care.

"Chiropractic is more cost-effective. There would be highly significant cost savings if more management of LBP was transferred from medical physicians to chiropractors."

I do not know a single Chiropractor that would not refer a true surgical issue to an MD. There are just some spines that you can't fix. That being said, more often than not we can help people with their low back pain. It just makes sense if Chiropractic is the safest and most cost effective treatment that delivers results that Chiropractic be tried first in all scenarios..

"Patients are very satisfied with chiropractic management of LBP and considerably less satisfied with physician management"

This definitely embodies my personal experience with the management of my LBP. Those who are generally not satisfied with Chiropractic Care usually do not complete their recommended number of visits, do not engage in rehab therapy to strengthen deconditioned muscles (either by choice or because their Chiropractor did not recommend it), or their poor experience is unrelated to their treatment (billing, personality conflict, issue with office staff, etc...)

"They were even so bold to recommend that chiropractors should act as the gatekeepers for all musculoskeletal complaints."

I've come across several journals that imply this, but this is the first non-chiropractic organization to make this claim that I know of. It is a sign that the grasp the medical community has on the insurance companies is loosening slightly. My wish is that all doctors could freely practice in their area of specialty and recognize the value that each other brings without being worried about who gets a "piece of the pie" when it comes to insurance dollars. The most emphasized topic in Chiropractic School, believe it or not, is properly identifying when a patient needs to be referred to another office for their condition, including musculoskeletal complaints.

The one thing the Report did not address, nor does it even seek to investigate, is the effect Chiropractic Care for Low Back Pain has on the function of organ systems supplied by the nerves in the lower back. The number of patients is too many to list that report improved digestion, lessened severity of menstrual cramps, resolution of irregular cycles, ability to get pregnant after years of unsuccessful infertility treatments, improved immune function, reduction in prostate swelling, resolved numbness and tingling in the legs, and many other issues we know Chiropractic Care impacts but we don't claim to treat because of law won't allow it. Chiropractic Care is the most effective treatment for Low Back Pain for the following reasons:

1. It addresses the cause of the pain.
2. It restores function and motion to the spine
3. It removes interference in nerve transmissions from the brain to the organ systems supplied by the nerves that exit the spine in the lower back.

If you have back pain, go see your Chiropractor. If you don't have a Chiropractor, get one. If you do not know what to look for in a Chiropractor, ask around, check their reviews online. If you are near Bloomington, IL...call my office and I'll be happy to let you know if your issue is something Chiropractic can effectively treat. (Office information is included in the Youtube video description above)