To Your Health
January, 2025 (Vol. 19, Issue 01) |
|
|
Chiropractic: For Much More Than Pain
By Editorial Staff
Pain, particularly back and neck pain, is a primary reason why patients visit chiropractors, and it's a smart decision to do so, because chiropractic is proven to be an effective pain reliever – and without the potential side effects of medication. But pain certainly isn't the only reason to visit a chiropractor, and new research makes it abundantly clear.
In addition to pain relief, chiropractic spinal adjustments have broad impacts on mood, sleep and overall quality of life. That's the conclusion involving 76 people with nonspecific, chronic low back pain who were divided randomly into chiropractic and control groups. Both groups received "usual care," while the chiropractic group also received spinal adjustments, with health improvements compared from baseline to four weeks after intervention.
According to the study, "usual care" consisted of "any care recommended or prescribed by non-chiropractic health providers for CLBP, including self-management advice, pharmacologic pain management, physical therapy, or referral to a pain clinic."
Members of the chiropractic group had significant increases in length of light sleep and overall quality of life during the four-week intervention, including improvements in anxiety, depression and fatigue. (This was in addition to improvements compared to controls in pain intensity and pain interference.) Findings appear in the research journal Brain Science.
The takeaway: Chiropractic works – and it works for much more than just chronic pain relief. Pass it on...
