Chiropractic as the Low Back Pain Gatekeeper

Low back pain is more common than the common cold. 85% of people at some time in their lives will suffer from an episode of lower back pain. This condition is the number one reason for work related disabilities, for lost time at work, for forced early retirement, and for the ever increasing premiums of employee health plans. The costs associated with low back pain have been a source of concern for government funded health care plans for decades. Recently, the provincial government of Ontario, with Canada's largest population, initiated a comprehensive study of the problem of low back pain.

The Manga Report was commissioned and funded by the Ontario Government's Ministry of Health and examined all aspects of modern low back pain treatment. This study and its resultant 216-page report were carried out by a team of distinguished and independent professors of health economics at the University of Ottawa. The principal researcher and author is Professor Pran Manga MA, Ph.D., Director of the Health administration program.

This study provides overwhelming evidence that chiropractic care is safer, more cost-effective and more successful in the treatment of lower back pain than traditional medicine. The study reviewed all available international evidence concerning the management of low back pain and concluded that chiropractic management is greatly superior to medical management in terms of scientific validity, safety, cost-effectiveness and patient satisfaction.

The report takes on greater significance when one considers what low back pain as a condition costs society. Billions of dollars are lost annually due to reduced work productivity and absenteeism as well as the vast costs involved in dubious diagnostic procedures, ineffective and dangerous drugs, unnecessary surgeries and other ineffective and expensive therapies. The report unequivocally concludes that society must find a better way to manage low back pain, as the traditional paradigm is too expensive and too ineffective.

The following are several selected quotations from The Manga Report: “Spinal adjustments applied by chiropractors are proven to be more effective than alternative treatments for low-back pain.”

 “Current medical therapies for low-back pain remain untested, questionable or harmful…”

 “There is good empirical evidence that patients are very satisfied with chiropractic management of low-back pain and considerably less satisfied with physician management.”

 “Despite higher private, out-of-pocket cost to most patients, the “use of chiropractic has grown steadily over the years.” offering “an overwhelming case in favour of much greater use of chiropractic services in the management of low-back pain.”