A new report compares chiropractic care with medical care for older patients with low-back pain (LBP).The randomized controlled trial included 240 people (105 women and 135 men). The participants were all at least 55 years old with subacute or chronic nonradicular LBP.

The patients were divided into three groups, including two biomechanically distinct forms of spinal manipulation (SM) or minimal conservative medical care (MCMC).

Specifically, “participants were randomly allocated to 6 weeks of care including 12 visits of either high-velocity, low-amplitude (HVLA)-SM, low-velocity, variable-amplitude (LVVA)-SM, or 3 visits of MCMC

The study concludes that “biomechanically distinct forms of SM did not lead to different outcomes in older LBP patients and both SM procedures were associated with small yet clinically important changes in functional status by the end of treatment for this relatively healthy older population. Participants who received either form of SM had improvements on average in functional status ranging from 1 to 2.2 over those who received MCMC. From an evidence-based care perspective, patient preference and clinical experience should drive how clinicians and patients make the SM procedure decision for this patient population.”

JMPT – June 2009;32:330-43.

www.jmptonline.org