Chiropractic Wellness Care

What are the Benefits?
Exciting NEW Research!!

The vast majority of patients who visit a chiropractic physician come in, get treated, get well, and it's over. Patients are then released from care, and they return to the office when they hurt again, treated typically within 2-12 visits for the next episode. Many patients however chose to transition to a monthly wellness program. The question is, "What are the benefits of ongoing monthly care?"
Exciting new research has been accepted for publication in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal, Spine. The authors sought to determine the effectiveness of maintenance spinal manipulation (one visit per month) in long-term reduction of pain and disability levels associated with chronic low-back conditions after an initial phase of treatments. They found that compared to those who receive no follow-up treatment after an injury, only those who receive maintenance/monthly spinal adjustment showed improvement in pain anddisability scores at the ten-month evaluation. Furthermore, in the group that received no maintenance care, the mean pain and disability scores returned back near to their pretreatment level.

In other words...maintenance/wellness works!!! Without ongoing care, patients did worse.

Other important research
There were two papers published in 2004 and 2007 , authored by a medical physician and chiropractic physician (Sarnat and Winterstein) which studied the effects of chiropractic management. After gathering and analyzing seven years of data they found that chiropractic users experienced:
• 85% lower pharmaceutical costs (the number one cost drive in the system)
• 60% fewer hospitalizations
• 62% fewer surgical cases,
• Less out-patient diagnostic tests (MRI, CT, blood work, etc.)
• Improved satisfaction reported by patients.
A 2004 case study examined the potential role of maintenance chiropractic spinal manipulation to reduce overall pain and disability levels associated with chronic low-back conditions after an initial phase of intensive chiropractic treatments. The results of this nine-month study demonstrated that for disability only the group that was given spinal manipulations during the follow-up period maintained their post-intensive treatment scores. The disability scores of the other group went back to their pretreatment levels .

A case study published in 2005 also studied the issue of maintenance care and found improvement in quality of life while showing signs suggestive of improved spinal function.

A study by Rupert in 2000 was designed to obtain information regarding multiple health issues of patients age 65 and over who have had a long-term regimen of chiropractic health promotion and preventive care. The authors concluded: The total annual cost of health care services for the patients receiving maintenance care was conservatively 1/3 of the expense made by US citizens of the same age.

A paper published in Top Clinical Chiropractic in 1996 was designed to assess characteristics of older patients who seek chiropractic care . The results were significant. Patients who utilize chiropractic physicians were:
• Less likely to have been hospitalized
• Less likely to have used a nursing home
• More likely to report a better health status,
• More likely to exercise vigorously
• More likely to be mobile in the community
• Less likely to use prescription drugs