10 Months of Chiropractic Better than One for Chronic Back pain

A new paper in the prestigous journal Spine found that patients with chronic low back pain (pain for six months or longer) experienced greater improvement after one month of chiropractic manipulation (3 times per week for 4 weeks) followed by treatment once every 2 weeks for 10 months (for a total of 30 treatments) than those that just came for one month of care (12 treatments).

The group that was given 12 chiropractic treatments made progress, whereas a placebo group did not make progress. But after 10 months, this group that got one month of chiropractic treatment had lost some of their improvement. But the group that received the additional 20 treatments made more progress all the way up to the 10 month period.

Does this mean that you have to have 30 chiropractic treatments to feel better? No, of course not. But it does offer valid scientific proof to insurance carriers and work comp adjustors that patients who need 30 treatments should get them. And it also provides evidence that after an initial round of intensive treatment (12 visits in one month) that getting some additional maintenance care (such as every 2 weeks) makes sense medically.