Does Chiropractic Care Reduce Back Pain and Headaches?

Does Chiropractic Care Reduce Back Pain and Headaches?
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Does Chiropractic Care Reduce Back Pain and Headaches?
Abstract
Back pains and headaches are common symptoms that bother people in their daily lives. Various studies have indicated that 70% of people from developed countries experience back pain whereas two-thirds experience other forms of pain such as headaches and neck pain during their lifetime. The pain may be as a result of certain pathological diseases such as fractures, tumors, inflammation, and infections. However, the pain in most people cannot be attributed to the above-mentioned pathologies. The common treatments such a surgery and medications have proved to be effective but temporary and have serious adverse effects. Numerous studies that have examined the efficacy of chiropractic care in pain and headache treatment have demonstrated that it is relatively safe and effective. The most common chiropractic care is the orthopedic corrections used in the Chinese Medicine.
Introduction
Back pains and headaches are common symptoms that bother people in their daily lives. Studies carried in developed countries indicate that majority of the people experience back pains while others suffer from other forms of pain such as headaches and neck pain during their lifetime. The may be caused specific pathological diseases such as such as fractures, tumors, inflammation, and infections. However, the pain in most people cannot be attributed to the above-mentioned pathologies. However, the pain in most people cannot be attributed to the above-mentioned pathologies. The common treatments such a surgery and medications have proved to be effective but temporary and have serious adverse effects. Statistics indicate that 80% of people in America suffer from various types of pain. The same statistics have demonstrated that an average of 20 million Americans seeks the services of chiropractors annually. A third of these people seek for relief from back pain due to various causes such muscle strains and sports injuries while others complain of headaches and pain in the legs and neck. Majority of those who seek for pain relief alternatives prefer chiropractic treatment.
In chiropractic, chiropractors use hands to manipulate the spinal code and other treatment alternatives based on the theory that proper alignment of the musculoskeletal structure of the body especially the sine helps the body to heal itself without the use of medications or surgeries. Therefore, chiropractic is used for mobility restoration of restricted joints due to tissue injury from traumatic events. In general, it is used as a pain relief alternative, and it is sometimes incorporated into the conventional medical treatments.
Since its inception in the late 1800s, chiropractic has proved to be an effective pain relief alternative. Throughout its history, chiropractors have maintained that the relationship between the spine, nervous system and brain is important in people's health and that any imbalance within the spine affects the functioning of nerves, body joints, spinal cord, bones, and muscles. Based on scientific literature, chiropractors have been focusing on evidence-based treatment of disorders related to the nervous system.
Spinal Manipulation
Spinal manipulation, which is commonly referred to as "spinal manipulative therapy" is one of the treatments that do not involve the prescription of drugs. It is practiced by various health care professionals such as physical therapists, chiropractors, naturopathic physicians, osteopathic physicians among other medical doctors. In this practice, practitioners use their hands or specific devices such as needles as used in the traditional Chinese medicine to manipulate the spine and other body joints. The amount of force applied by chiropractors depends on the type of manipulation or pain. The aim is to relieve pain in people to improve their overall physical functioning.
Side Effects
Various reviews and studies have concluded that chiropractic for back pain and headache relief is safe when performed by a qualified and licensed practitioner. Like other practices and the conventional treatments, spinal manipulation has side effects such as temporary soreness and tiredness. However, despite these minor side effects, rare reports have reported serious cases such as cauda equine syndrome (CES, a condition that involves pinched nerves in the lower back) though its cause remains unclear. Despite being used to relieve headaches, in cases of severe pain, headaches appear as side effects although this depends on the form of manipulation used by the practitioner (Thiel et al., 2007).
Chiropractic for back pain
Overall, various studies that have studied the efficacy of chiropractic in back pain treatment have shown that it is among the several options that can provide relief to back pain. The studies have provided full evidence that chiropractic works well as other conventional treatments such as heat application. Some of the studies that have reviewed the efficacy of spinal manipulation include the 2007 guidelines by the American College of Physicians and American Pain Society that have recommended chiropractic in cases where back pain does not improve after utilizing other alternatives. A complimentary to this reviews is the 2010 Agency for Healthcare Research, and Quality (AHRQ) reported that concluded that chiropractic practices offer additional options to the normal treatment alternatives that have limited benefit in pain relief (AHRQ, 1997). The report also established that chiropractic practices are more effective than placebo in reducing pain intensity. However, the report noted several inconsistencies between spinal manipulation and physical therapy alternatives such as massage in reducing back pain intensity.
The research on the efficacy of chiropractic in pain treatment continues. The following are some of the studies that have explored chiropractic in pain treatment:
* A review of 26 clinical trials in 2011 examined the effectiveness of the various back pin treatment alternatives including chiropractic was done. An overwhelming evidence that suggested that chiropractic is effective in back pain treatment was found. This supported an earlier review that was conducted in 2010.
* In 2010 a review that examined the different manual therapy alternatives for a ...