A recent study published in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics1 (JMPT) compared chiropractic management of low back pain with medical management.
"After controlling for these variables simultaneously in a stratified analysis, chiropractic patients were still almost twice as likely to perceive their treatment to be successful after three months compared to medical patients."The study compared 146 chiropractic patients with 279 medical patients with some interesting results:
"... the 3-month risk of improvement was 13% greater for chiropractic care than medical care."When patients choose between a chiropractic approach versus a medical approach, they are making a choice that will influence their expected outcome. Patients need to be informed of the effects their choices have on their health."... the 3-month risk of worsening was 40% less for chiropractic care than for medical care."
The medical patients were "more likely to have been hospitalized for low back pain and to have had low back surgery."
- Hurwitz EL. The relative impact of chiropractic vs. medical management of low back pain on health status in a multispecialty group practice. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1994; 17(2):74-82.
- Cherkin DC, MacCornack FA. Patient evaluations of low back pain care from family physicians and chiropractors. Western J Med 1989; 150:351-5.
"What Are We Waiting For?"
The April 1994 issue of Reader's Digest contained an interesting article, "What Are We Waiting For?" It was written by John Diebold of the Diebold Institute for Public Policy Studies. This organization is dedicated to helping society benefit from technological change.
Mr. Diebold had some observations about the public's need to compare health care treatments:
"One of the biggest weaknesses in U.S. health care comes down to the startling fact that patients don't really know the relative merit of different treatments.If Mr. Diebold has his way, the ability to compare health care treatment outcomes will become a reality in the very near future. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that this is already happening within larger third-party payer organizations."Political debate rages about health care, while a solution -- greater competition through easier comparison -- lies under our noses. As with crowded roads, we can apply information technology to make much better use of the systems we already have."
Think about your own practice. Are you as effective and cost efficient as you could be? If you were competing directly with medical providers, PTs, and osteopaths, would your treatment be more cost effective than theirs?
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