Chiropractic claims debunked

Latest evidence based studies expose the myths about the major claims made by chiropractic marketers, schools, and practitioners.

An often repeated claim is that chiropractic manipulation can help pediatric asthma patients. Results of that research were not published until October 8, 1998. But that never stopped some chiropractors from insisting that that they can successfully treat kids for this condition, with just a twist of the neck or spine. If you want to see the original asthma article in its entirety, just visit the New England Journal of Medicine site.

If you want more articles from about the basic tenets of chiropractic, namely the use of manipulation as a major treatment of low back pain, you might not be surprised with the results of the study above:

• Science Daily - From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - Although manipulative therapy has been shown to have some efficacy in treating back pain, headache, and other symptoms of spinal-related conditions, rigorous, medical studies have not supported the efficacy of chiropractic medicine as a cure outside of this specific area.
  Misuse of science reports
  Medical risks of spinal manipulation

• Food for Thought 2002: How to Choose a Chiropractor - (or the Eight Warning Signs that You May Need a Different Chiropractor)- From Chiroweb - Dr. G. Douglas Andersen.
• Chiropractic and Low Back Pain comparison - NEJM; 339; 1021-1029 -- 1998
• Chiropractic treatment studies - Editorial -- NEJM 1998; 339: 1074-1075
• Unconventional treatments -- NEJM 1993; 329: 1200-1204 -- October 14, 1993 - they get letters
• Manipulation and mobilization of the cervical spine. A systematic review - dangers clearly mentioned.
• Chiropractic's Success on Back Pain Disputed in Study - October 8, 1998 Challenging the main reason people go to chiropractors, a major medical journal today is releasing a study showing that spinal manipulation eases back pain no better than specialized physical therapy and only a bit better than doing next to nothing.

  The study--led by University of Washington researchers and published in the New England Journal of Medicine--goes against the growing acceptance of chiropractic spinal manipulation as a treatment for acute low back pain. In recent years, a federal health agency has endorsed such treatment, and many insurance companies now cover it.

  (It's a shame that almost every reference given by chiropractors seem to have ignored this study. Pity. So, if it only works in the first few weeks of acute back pain, why does insurance pay for it?)

• Analysis of a Misleading Chiropractic Article in Annals of Internal Medicine - Stephen Barrett, MD "Chiropractic: A Profession at the Crossroads of Mainstream and Alternative Medicine," which the Annals published on February 5, 2002, is a one-sided puff piece written by two prominent chiropractors. Although most of what they say is "factual," they either ignore or attempt to obfuscate information about chiropractic's shortcomings. To highlight their deception, Dr. Barrett inserted comments in bold-faced red text.

• "How to become your own chiropractor - sometimes - -William T. O'Connor, Jr., M.D. Excerpted from www.backache.md
  MAKING YOUR BAD BACK BETTER with The O'Connor Technique (tm) How you can become your own Chiropractor.

  Dr. O'Connor's reflections on how chiropractors first have to convince themselves and then convince the patient that there are subluxations, and that they cause their problems, and that they will get better because of their specific treatments.

  "Considering that chiropractors themselves readily admit that they cannot explain how manipulative therapy actually functions mechanically, anatomically, or physiologically, these studies imply only that chiropractors are more expert at perpetrating misrepresentations than family practitioners. It demonstrates to me that chiropractors do not help alleviate back pain better but simply are better able to "con" patients into believing that they know what they are doing, and family practitioners are equally as ineffective but more honest in their responses.

  In deference to the field of chiropractic and to present a balanced picture, there are several controlled trials that provided evidence that chiropractic manipulation has a beneficial effect for low back pain, especially for select subgroups of patients; however in a study of 35 randomized trials of manipulation, only 5% showed an improved short term outcome, again though, selection biases and lack of standardized diagnoses make even that success profile subject to interpretive bias that evidences one already largely known marketplace fact: Some people do get relief from chiropractors.

  One needn't accept my word on this score, according to a recognized authority on the spine, Dr. Richard A. Deyo: "Spine films are of little use in making a diagnosis, and they are costly and expose patients to significant radiation directed right at the genitals." One would do well to consider the risk/benefit ratio of spinal X-rays before consenting to them. "