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The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association logoLink to The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association
. 1993 Dec;37(4):221–229.

Effective management of low back pain: it’s time to accept the evidence

Pran Manga, Douglas E Angus, William R Swan
PMCID: PMC2485083

Abstract

Low back pain is a ubiquitous and economically costly problem. Unfortunately, the clinical management of low back pain is not yet well understood. Chiropractic management of back pain, long the black sheep of back care, has undergone a transition and is now a more respected and understood alternative to conservative medical care, itself under increased scrutiny due to unsatisfactory outcomes and unacceptable iatrogenic side effects. The substantial amount of clinical and related research on the effectiveness of manipulation for low back pain is summarized here from a larger study, divided into randomized control trials, case-control trials, meta-analyses and descriptive studies. The chiropractic management of low back pain is found to be a more effective way of dealing with this medical, social and economic problem. It is suggested that greater utilization of chiropractors be encouraged such that the “right people are doing the right things at the right time”.

Keywords: chiropractic, manipulation, utilization, backache, clinical trials

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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