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A meta-analysis of studies has found that spinal manipulation can have a modest effect on pain and mobility:
One of the most common reasons people go to the doctor is lower back pain, and one of the most common reasons doctors prescribe powerful, addictive narcotics is lower back pain. Now, new research published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association offers the latest evidence that spinal manipulation can offer a modestly effective alternative.
Researchers analyzed 26 studies involving more than 1,700 patients with lower back pain. The analysis found spinal manipulation can reduce lower back pain as measured by patients on a pain scale, like this one from zero to 10. Spinal manipulation, which is typically done by chiropractors and physical therapists, involves applying pressure and moving joints in the spine.
Patients undergoing spinal manipulation experienced a decline of 1 point in their pain rating, says Dr. Paul Shekelle, an internist with the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the Rand Corp. who headed the study. "So if it had been a 7 it would be a 6, or if it had been a 5 it would be a 4," Shekelle says. That's about the same amount of pain relief as from NSAIDs, over-the-counter nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication, such as ibuprofen.
The study also found spinal manipulation modestly improved function. On average, patients reported greater ease and comfort engaging in two day-to-day activities, such as finding they could walk more quickly, were having less difficulty turning over in bed or were sleeping more soundly.
Have you used "alternative" methods for back pain relief? Can I relieve two pain points by combining spinal manipulation with an NSAID? Is this just a way for the VA to reduce costs, or is it aimed at the war on opiates?
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 16 2017, @05:34AM (1 child)
Stop the bombing, motherbombers.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 16 2017, @05:54AM
Veterans would have fewer injuries if there were fewer wars.
Nah. Keep bombing those sandniggers. Because reasons.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 16 2017, @05:50AM (2 children)
Try regular exercise. I do back twists to pop my spine, it sounds like cracking knuckles, and my joints feel less stiff afterward. Who would have thunk.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 16 2017, @06:04AM (1 child)
> Try regular exercise.
This. Strong back and core muscles support and protect your spine so that it won't hurt. Seriously, unless you have physical damage like a worn out disc, just doing a bunch of crunchs each morning can make all the difference. Forget about sit-ups -- if you do them wrong you can make it worse and the marginal value of doing them right compared to just doing crunchs isn't worth the risk.
Planks are good too.
And even if you have damage, exercise is probably a good choice. But you'll want a doctor (and probably a legit physical therapist, not a 'trainer' at the gym) to give you guidance before you start a regimen.
> I do back twists to pop my spine, it sounds like cracking knuckles
I have no comment on that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 16 2017, @06:37AM
How to Crack Your Back: 13 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow [wikihow.com]
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday April 16 2017, @06:00AM (3 children)
Study finds truth. Next big pharma can't have any cure so they character assassine any practitioners of spine manipulation. Some study will probably find it horribly dangerous and FDA will impose draconian rules.
(Score: 1) by jcm on Sunday April 16 2017, @09:19AM (2 children)
My previous wife trained disabled people.
One of the people was a woman who was disabled because the practitioner messed up the manipulation, and probably ruined her spine.
One of my previous colleagues dated a chiropractor.
After that, he had problems with his back, because his vertebrae were loose.
So, no, spine manipulation can be very dangerous !
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 16 2017, @03:05PM
Your buddy had something loose, but it wasn't his spine.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by kaszz on Sunday April 16 2017, @08:51PM
It's like most other professions that has effect. It can do good, and bad. Same for surgeries, doctors, vaccines etc. Bad practice will hurt people. That doesn't make the profession or method bad.
Chiropractors tend to use methods however that are more brute force than Osteopathy that put the body on the right track and let it self heal. So in that case I would recommend Osteopathy and of course someone that got experience and the proof of education. Another evaluation method is the statistics on past results if it can be had. Reports of mishaps to government bodies is one way.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by anubi on Sunday April 16 2017, @06:06AM (6 children)
This back pain... is its root cause mechanical? If so the cure is also likely mechanical.
Trying to ram narcotics to the brain won't fix a pinched nerve. No more than filling the crankcase of my engine with liquid mechanic is going to fix a failed bearing.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 16 2017, @06:25AM (4 children)
And we wonder why we have an opioid crisis.
A little yoga can go a long way; I'm another AC that uses twisting exercises to help with the spine.
But that's just reason #543 there's an opioid crisis.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday April 16 2017, @06:29AM (1 child)
When all you got is a supply of pills. Every problem looks like a pill problem..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 16 2017, @07:05AM
Food pills will solve world hunger. Any day now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 16 2017, @07:41AM (1 child)
Yoga... you would promote witchcraft and Satatic rituals? Typical liberal trying to destroy America. Disgusting. SAD.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday April 16 2017, @11:16PM
Nom-nomaste!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 16 2017, @06:55PM
Agreed. I believe I've traced my various backaches to many minor crashes on mini-bikes and dirt bikes when I was a teen. Back then I shrugged off the pain and it mostly went away quickly.
As far as the "one pain point" improvement mentioned in TFA, I'm guessing that is an average. One good hour with a massage therapist that knows my body can take me from say, "6" down to 1 or 2. And sometimes I get no relief, takes a second hour to work through the issues.
When I meet someone with back pain I often suggest some kind of mechanical relief, but always with the comment, different strokes for different folks.
(Score: 1) by Scrutinizer on Sunday April 16 2017, @07:29AM (4 children)
Considering that the last time a person I knew experienced "back pain" was effectively paralyzed by pain until dosed with opioid-based painkillers, I don't see any noteworthy benefit for someone with near-crippling "7" pain to endure spinal manipulation and its additional pain, merely to have the same effect as taking over-the-counter ibuprofen. This smacks instead of justification for continuing to treat US citizens as managed cattle, be it for expense or "morality" reasons.
As for spinal manipulation improving bodily functioning, that's better news, particularly when combined with restorative exercices. It's still sadistic to suggest that spinal manipulation be used in place of painkillers, instead of along with them, as the patient desires. How would it otherwise be different from insisting that modern dental patients just white-knuckle through the pain when a dentist's first try at numbing nerves isn't adequate?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 16 2017, @07:32AM (1 child)
Just drop a MOAB on the affected area. Totally relieve pain with death!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 16 2017, @07:43AM
Even if it doesn't stop the pain, you'll be super distracted by all the SHINY.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 16 2017, @07:59AM (1 child)
Theoretically the manipulation should stop the pinching of the nerves.
The manipulations themselves aren't permanent, you have to either go back regularly or figure out how to maintain the new alignment through exercise and proper movement.
(Score: 3, Informative) by drussell on Sunday April 16 2017, @08:54AM
Theoretically the manipulation should stop the pinching of the nerves.
Uhhh... That depends entirely on why the nerves are irritated to begin with!
In many cases, Chiropractor = "Danger, Will Robinson!!"
(Especially if you have certain types of disc problems... Chiropractic manipulation is contraindicated in many cases!!)
(Score: 2) by drussell on Sunday April 16 2017, @09:01AM (3 children)
Have you used "alternative"^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H methods for back pain relief?
Weed++
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday April 16 2017, @09:45AM
And this helpful homemade gadget:
Get 2 tennis balls and a pantyho. Wrap the tennis balls in the pantyho and twist them in opposite directions until tight, then tie off the pantyho between the tennis balls.
What you will be left with is a massage thingy capable of massaging both columns of spinal muscles at once provided you roll your back across it. You can place it against the wall and use your legs to move up and down rolling your back over it, or you can place it on the floor and do the same horizontally if you need more pressure.
Cheap, easy, and feels good man.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 16 2017, @05:08PM
Weed++
Well, it's been used for millenia to relieve ailments.
...and if it doesn't work for your particular problem, it's the most benign thing you could have taken.
That the feds put it on a list with drugs with "no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse" demonstrates the anti-Science position of USA.gov.
That USA.gov's first anti-weed law was named the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 (I kid you not) which demonstrates that they are just making it up as they go along.
They have never been interested in reading any existing studies nor in doing any new studies.
Their minds are made up; don't bother them with facts.
"alternative"^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H
FYI: Instead of backspacing each character, you can backspace an entire word with ^W.
.
When I feel back pain beginning, I'm another who does some light exercise.
A set of crunches does it for me.
I also appreciate having a small woman walk on my lumbar, directing her where to apply the pressure.
My Mom has gotten effective relief via chiropractic manipulation.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 16 2017, @06:59PM
Oddly, weed doesn't usually help my back pain. My back muscles seem to relax at different times and the ones that remain tense actually pop things out of joint (likely the small joints where the ribs connect to the spine). It's rather unpleasant to feel my back popping out of line while high.
(Score: 3, Disagree) by aristarchus on Sunday April 16 2017, @11:27AM (3 children)
Chiropractic "alternative" medicine is a fraud. But looks like they want some of the Veteran's Administration money, so they need some "studies" showing they are actually "effective". And I am coming to this Fine Article about fraud just after reading the equally waco (yes, I know, but as a town in Texas, it will do) FA about goldbugs, yet another obsessive compulsive fraudulent issue with the brain-damaged right-wing nut-jobs in the America. Has Alex Jones abducted the real SoylentNews editors, and replaced them with Info Warriors, and Anti-social Injustice Deplorables?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 16 2017, @12:12PM
Completely agree. Everybody likes to cry "follow the big pharma money trail", but nobody like to acknowledge all the money in "alternative" medicine.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday April 16 2017, @01:54PM (1 child)
Looks like aristarchus regards NPR and the Journal of the American Medical Association as fake alt-right news.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Sunday April 16 2017, @07:16PM
This is exactly what I would expect an editor replaced by a lizard person to say!
(Score: 4, Informative) by weeds on Sunday April 16 2017, @11:39AM (4 children)
Isn't this about what you would expect from the placebo effect? Not that there is anything wrong with that, just that it isn't very surprising.
Get money out of politics! [mayday.us]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 16 2017, @12:09PM
I agree. People like and benefit from being touched. Go to the dollar store, buy some ibuprofen, get a massage instead.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @01:40AM (2 children)
The placebo effect is already in-play when people reach for pills like ibuprofen, so if ibuprofen has an effect above placebo levels than spinal manipulation does too.
(Score: 2) by weeds on Wednesday April 19 2017, @04:41PM (1 child)
I didn't know there was any doubt that Ibuprofen reduces back pain and that it's effect could be attributed to the placebo effect. The efficacy of Ibuprofen has been tested against a placebo and the placebo effect is well understood. When someone does a study that compares spinal manipulation to some other similar strategy that is known to not produce any results (and where the lack of a causal relationship is completely unknown to the subject) then you can compare them.
Get money out of politics! [mayday.us]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 20 2017, @12:57AM
The placebo can strengthen a drugs effects. For example, many people who take sleep pills, SSRIs, pain meds, etc... feel relief the instant they take the pill despite the majority of those drug classes uses pills which take time to cause an effect.
(Score: 1) by danuk on Sunday April 16 2017, @12:25PM (3 children)
I listened to a podcast that suggested some back pain could be stress related. Previously a stomach ulser would appear creating a diversion from stress so the host focused on that pain instead. As it became widely known that the ulser was stress related the body could no longer use it as a decoy. I don't know if this is BS but it is very interesting. A quick web search finds this site which might explain it better than I. http://www.cure-back-pain.org/psychosomatic-back-pain.html [cure-back-pain.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 17 2017, @04:45AM (2 children)
Aren't stomach ulcers from bacterial infections though...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 19 2017, @01:44AM (1 child)
And the chemical changes your body undergoes when in stressed mode make it easier for that bacteria to thrive above levels were your body can manage them. Everything is related, the world is far more complex than more people care to admit. If it's not a yes/no answer it's ignored.
(Score: 1) by danuk on Tuesday April 25 2017, @08:48PM
How about grey hair. Don't people who are under extreme stress turn grey very fast. The placebo effect is very strong, the mind can affect the body in incredible ways.
(Score: 2, Informative) by leftover on Sunday April 16 2017, @03:13PM
My experiences with severe back pain lasted for years and through several surgeries.
That all ended after a few sessions with a good physical therapist who taught me the basics:
1. stretching methodically and gently. (Who knew that stretching shouldn't be instantaneous?)
2. maintaining abdominal muscle strength so Pressure x Area carries the load.
3. sit less, move more.
Zero problem in decades since then.
Bent, folded, spindled, and mutilated.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 17 2017, @06:19AM
Injured back at work, moving heavy overhead object in stockroom, and twisting. Pain started growing within minutes.
Within a day, breathing became difficult with chest muscles in spasm.
After first chiro session, I had significant relief the following day, and continued to improve in following sessions.
I don't believe in many of the health claims made about chiro (e.g. improved digestion, disease resistance, etc.), however I do know that it helps me with my back pain.
Note that different practitioners use different manipulation techniques. I've tried a few. The one that works best for me, isn't used by many practitioners, as it is physically harder on them to perform, but has a much lower impact on the patient. If pain is experienced, it is up to the patient to speak-up so the treatment can be adjusted, or even find another practitioner using a different technique.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 17 2017, @07:20PM
Chiropractic, combined with massage, yoga and tai chi worked for me.
I messed up my back in my early 20s while lifting a couple of servers that I should have not been trying to move on my own. I have herniation on 3 discs (L3/L4, L4/L5 and L5/S1). They are all herniated over 1cm and because of that, I was experiencing extreme sciatic pain, numbness in the leg, muscle spasms and cramping. Two different surgeons wanted to perform surgery to fuse the vertebrae and shave down the discs. It got to the point where the swelling and inflammation was so bad that I had to go under general anesthetic and have a cortisone shot to get everything calmed down. That was about 8 years ago.
Since then, I went through a fairly aggressive chiropractic regime of ~30 visits over 3 months. It started with twice weekly for the first month and then tapered down from there. Following that, I did (and still do) tai chi, qigong and more recently yoga. Between the physical practices and the occasional (once every two to three months) chiropractic visit, I am pain free and have a good range of motion. The body is an amazing organism and has a very real capacity to heal itself. While pain killers can be an effective short term treatment, they only treat the symptoms. In order to heal and have good health, you have to address the underlying cause. With back pain, the root cause is usually an injury that was not treated properly, combined with long term bad habits (sitting still for extended periods of time, combined with not moving / stretching enough).
While probably a bit too hippy dippy for this audience, there are also emotional / mental / psycho-physiological considerations as well. I found the book "Healing Back Pain" by John Sarno to be a good resource.
Keeping my back healthy requires discipline though. If I slack off on my exercises, or I push it too hard for too many days in a row and get very tired / warn out, the symptoms come back. It always starts with muscle spasms in the buttocks and stiffness / cramps in the calf. But getting rested and doing a couple of days of yoga / stretching / tai chi has always been enough to get things back under control.
(Score: 2) by DutchUncle on Tuesday April 18 2017, @06:09PM
Massage for muscles, chiropractic for joints. I have 2 herniated discs (old sports injuries + overuse + age). When they happened, and when I have a more intense problem, I need NSAIDs; most of the time, chiropractic helps me avoid continual pill use and its accompanying side effects, and (I believe) has helped defer arthritis problems that run in the family. Practitioners' skills and styles vary widely, so find personal recommendations, don't just pick at random.