The Benefits of Chiropractic Care and More

Quite often in my practice, a patient whom I am treating for a usual back or neck problem will experience other unexpected benefits. Generally, they will ask, rather cautiously, whether it is normal to feel this or that change. I reassure them that it is common to feel better with chiropractic treatments and I attempt to elaborate as to why they are seeing improvements in areas seemingly unrelated to their spines. This is one of the pleasurable aspects of helping people in a day-to-day chiropractic office.

I came across a report that studied this phenomenon the other day, and I thought my readers would enjoy hearing it.

The study was conducted in Sweden in the late 90’s and was reported in The Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 1999; 32:559-64. A group of interviewers questioned 20 consecutive patients that had just received treatment from 87 Swedish chiropractors. The patients were given a questionnaire asking if they had experienced any improved non-musculoskeletal symptoms after their adjustment. A total of 1504 responses were gathered and analyzed. The results are very informative.

Out of 1504 patients who had recently visited their chiropractor, 21-25% of cases reported at least one non-musculoskeletal benefit after their adjustment. The breakdown went like this: 26% had a pulmonary improvement (It was easier to breathe), 25% had a gastrointestinal benefit (A perception of improved GI function), 14% realized an eye/ vision improvement, and 14% felt they had gained a cardiac/circulation improvement.

A side note to this study was that the interviewers observed that in cases where other spinal areas were treated greater non-musculoskeletal improvements occurred. In other words, the number of positive reactions was directly associated with the number of spinal areas treated.

Much of this report and its findings just stands to reason and is expected by chiropractors the world over. We have all seen and heard these kinds of comments many times in our offices. Much of it can be explained by the removal of muscle tension and /or nerve interference in the spine. It is anatomical fact that the thoracic spine houses and conducts the nerves to the lungs, diaphragm, liver, stomach etc. In some future article, I intend to discuss the mechanisms of osseous spine adjustments and visceral responses.

Although this was not a particularly high-quality study, it was large enough in scope to indicate a trend. It is instructive to we practitioners in the field that adjusting spinal areas that are secondary to the main biomechanical lesion can have excellent spin-off benefits for the patient. What we need now is longer-term follow-up studies to determine many other questions that this Swedish study opens up. Such questions as: Did these patients have reportable symptoms prior or is the relief being reported immeasurable? Is this putative relief brief, short-term or long lasting? What are the results of patients seeking chiropractic care for these symptoms as their primary complaint? Much investigation in this area remains to be done. This Swedish study is a good start.

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