Today, I had the opportunity to review an article published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

This is a peer-reviewed journal, respected in both the traditional and alternative medicine fields.

The focus of the article was on the efficacy of spinal manipulation (chiropractic adjustment) when compared with things like pain-killers and home exercises. The variable of the study was acute neck pain, or neck pain that hasn't been a complaint for very long, and it looked for significant reduction in symptoms (50-75%) over time.

The findings of the study were straightforward: chiropractic outranked other treatments in patient improvement and in patient satisfaction. At the 12 week mark, patients who had been treated with adjustments had less pain than those who received other treatments. The same results were found after a solid 6 months of study.

Now, looking at one-year out, patients all seemed to be doing better. This tells us something significant: the body is able to heal itself, regardless of the treatments. That is excellent news, but unfortunately it also requires extensive time to do so.

What else can we learn from this study? Side-effects were also accounted for in this research. Though some patients who were adjusted experienced some muscular soreness, noted side effects were 25-30% less than those treated with medication, who experienced systemic (whole body) complaints.

As a physician, this is simply reinforcement that the quality chiropractic adjustments which I perform truly are the best thing for helping people get out of pain and to find wellness. As a patient, this article shows us that chiropractic care is the clear winner when choosing the treatment to feel better, and above all, it is a natural, drug-free approach to health. 

Reference: Bronfort G, Evans R, Anderson AV et al. Spinal Manipulation, Medication, or Home Exercise with Advice for Acute and Subacute Neck Pain: A Randomized Trial. Annals of Internal Medicine 2012; 156: 1-10.