BackCare UK Responds To Daily Mail Article Saying Chiropractors Are A Waste Of Time

Main Category: Back Pain
Also Included In: Pain / Anesthetics;  Complementary Medicine / Alternative Medicine
Article Date: 28 Mar 2006 - 2:00 PDT

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With reference to the Article printed in the Daily Mail health pages Wednesday 22nd March 'Chiropractors may be a waste of time' BackCare has the following comments:

Evidence from the latest systematic review 1 of good quality trials is that spinal manipulation is better at relieving back pain than no treatment and as good as but not better than painkiller exercises or physiotherapy.

Nia Taylor, Chief Executive of BackCare, says that hands on therapies have their place:

"Any treatment that helps to relieve pain even just in the short term, can be very important in allowing people to get back to their normal activities and exercise routine. This in the long term will then help them to recover from their back pain" she says.

In 2004 BackCare conducted an internet survey of treatments for back pain & asked back pain sufferers what actually worked for them. The results were published in The Daily Telegraph book 'Back Pain - What Really Works' by Arthur C. Klein. They will also be included in a new guide to "Complementary & Alternative Therapies for Back Pain" to be published by BackCare next month.

The results for chiropractic and osteopathy were as follows:

Among people who had tried chiropractic 33% felt it had given some help that lasted six months or more, 38% felt it had given temporary relief and only 15% felt that it didn't help at all.

For osteopathy the figures were 36% for long term help, 38% for short term help & 18% no help at all.

2240 people took part in the survey most of whom had suffered from back pain for more than one year.

1.(Assendelft WJJ, Morton SC, Yu EmilyI I, Suttorp MJ, Shekelle PG. Spinal manipulative therapy for low back pain) The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2004, Issue 1. Art. No.:CD00447

Back pain is the UK's leading cause of disability with 1.1 million sufferers experiencing some form of back pain each year. Department of Health statistics have estimated that back pain is costing the British industry an annual �5 billion and the NHS �481 million each year. Recent research has concluded that children are also experiencing various forms of back pain. BackCare provides education and information through their publications, telephone Helpline and local branches. They also fund research and regularly campaign to raise the profile of issues surrounding back pain.

BackCare - the Charity for Healthier Backs
16 Elmtree Road, Teddington, Middlesex, TW11 8ST
United Kingdom
www.backcare.org.uk

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