096- Can Chiropractic Adjustments Outperform Diclofenac?

Welcome to the Evidence Based Chiropractor providing you with elegant and efficient research based content to help your practice prosper and succeed. Now get ready for a variety of dynamic communication tools designed for immediate growth courtesy of your host, Dr. Jeff Langmaid.

Hello and welcome to the Evidence Based Chiropractor. I AM your host, Dr. Jeff Langmaid. This week we are going to look at a astounding piece of research which showcased how chiropractic adjustments perform when pitted against one of the most popular NSAIDs on the market. So you want to stay tuned to this week's episode for sure. I have a strong feeling you are going to love what the researchers found. But before we get started I will say a few words about Rock Tape. Rock Tape is revolutionizing soft tissue again with the new Rock Blades Mohawk. Featuring three tools in one, a surgical stainless steel hand polished tool and two attachments, a silicon sleeve and an ABS comb. Rockblades Mohawk unlocks never before seen treatment protocols to reduce pain, improve mobility and address issues like nerve glide and neuropathy. And at 175 bucks you can't go wrong, Learn more and explore educational courses featuring mohawk@rocktape.com Mohawk this week, as I said at the top, we are diving into some very very interesting research that was released by Spine Journal in April of 2013. In the title of the paper you'll find in the show notes is Spinal High Velocity Low Amplitude manipulation in Acute Non Specific Low Back pain. I'll say that one more featured in Spine Journal in April of 2013. So it is pretty new. And they looked at spinal High velocity Low Amplitude manipulation in acute non specific Low Back pain. And basically what they did was they took a chiropractic adjustment, a manipulation and pitted it directly against diclofenac which is one of the most popular NSAIDs ever produced. And this research paper is randomized, double blinded and placebo controlled. So it is the top of the top in regards to how the research was executed. This was a parallel trial that had three arms and in my opinion it's gonna be considered a landmark study in spinal manipulative research. They tested the commonly prescribed NSAID diclofenac against spinal manipulation and against placebo. So I'm gonna read a few quotes from this research and really let it speak for itself. The researchers found three highlighted items that I will touch on. Number one, they found quote, this is the first time that spinal manipulation was investigated in a double blinded randomized controlled design showing clear superiority compared with placebo and nsaid. I'll Repeat that one as well. I absolutely love this quote. This is the first time that spinal manipulation was investigated in a double blinded randomized controlled design showing clear superiority compared with placebo and nsaid. The researchers go on to state HVLA manipulation can be recommended for the therapy for acute non specific low back pain. And finally they found final evaluation showed manipulation being significantly better than NSAID and clinically superior to placebo. So that is about as hard hitting as the research that you are going to find out there. And this was just from 2013. This was not in a quote unquote chiropractic friendly journal. This is from Spine Journal. They evaluate and look at interventional spine spinal surgery hardware, infusion devices and efficacy and outcomes. And they took the time to look at spinal high velocity low amplitude manipulation and again found it to be significantly better than NSAIDS and significantly better than placebo. And let's talk about a couple other items involved in this research paper that I think really drive the message home. So when they looked at the amount of individuals that had manipulation and then had diclofenac as treatment options, those that found relief, complete relief. In this study, over twice as many people in the manipulation group found complete relief than those in the diclofenac or the NSAID group. Complete relief was double in the manipulation group. Now if I swing all the way to the other side of the spectrum and say how many people deteriorated during each of those treatment modalities manipulation and diclofenac? 0.0people deteriorated with manipulation. And just as many people that had complete relief with diclofenac deteriorated with diclofenac. And again remember that was half the amount that found complete relief than with chiropractic adjustment or spinal manipulation. So again, twice as many people found complete relief that had manipulation versus the nsaid. Zero people found deteriorating symptoms with chiropractic adjustment or spinal manipulation. And a significant just as many people that found relief taking the NSAID had their symptomatology deteriorate and they AKA got worse. And this is a very, very important study. We featured this for all members of the evidence based chiropractor. This was a research brief that we put out a little while ago and our current members are also able to access it in the member's vault. But this is an important piece of research because applies to your practice. Not only is this great information to know and to really be able to talk about this week with your patients in your practice, but when you're speaking with other healthcare physicians, we know because we've done it thousands of times at this point. We know that when a medical doctor is referring a patient for musculoskeletal care or for spinal pathology, however you want to define that, we know that they do one of three things a vast majority of the time. Refer to another medical doctor, refer to physical therapy or, or treat in house with NSAIDs. So this study looks at exactly what one of their primary care options, treatment options, treatment protocols, whatever you want to call it. This study looks at one of the things that medical doctors, primary care specifically, are literally doing each and every day by the millions. And it is taking it and putting it again in a double blinded, placebo controlled parallel trial that's randomized against spinal manipulation and spinal manipulation comes out head and shoulders above. Now, with that being said, when you use this to build a relationship, and we go through this in great detail within the evidence based chiropractor, but you don't need to kind of beat the doctor over the head or belittle them with the fact that they don't know the research. But what this does is it plants that seed where it gives them a little bit of education, gives them a little bit of information regarding the topic, and then you're able to fine tune your specific practice messaging to what makes things easier or better for their practice. And that's when you start to develop kind of that potent combination when they can see the social proof through case notes that people are getting well in your practice, when you're able to update them with research such as this, when you're able to meet them and identify the frustrations and the challenges that they have in their practice and make things easier for them, you start to develop a very, very potent formula to reduce barriers, red friction and increase referrals. Here's a for instance on that. For most PCPs that are using NSAIDS as a primary treatment option, patients with cardiovascular complaints that are taking cardio medications typically are contraindicated for NSAIDs. So therefore, it's a great point when you showcase a piece of research like this to be able to stand in front of that medical doctor or through a letter and say, our referral partners in town often start with NSAIDs. But one big frustration that they have are the patients that have cardiac complaints that are unable to take those NSAIDs. Well, do not fear because you can see here in the research, chiropractic care, spinal manipulation has been shown to be just as if not much more effective than diclofenac or those NSAIDs. And we're able to evaluate and get those patients moving within the first 24 to 48 hours after referral. That is why our referral partners in town really love and rely on our office. So you can see that's some very simple phrasing that you can use on how you can highlight research such as this to promote your practice, to promote chiropractic care in your community, and to really open up people's eyes to the breadth and depth of research out there supporting chiropractic care. And that is what we are all about at the Evidence Based Chiropractor and hopefully why you listen each and every week. And if you have been listening, thank you a ton. We are nearing 6,000 chiropractors each and every week that are listening into the podcast. Any feedback that you have Jeff at the Evidence Based Chiropractor, I'm always here and I am always listening. And also if you have recently updated the software on your iPhone, the new podcast app is awesome. On the iPhone you can leave ratings, feedback and reviews directly from within the application. And as soon as you get done listening, I have one huge ask of you if you could leave us some ratings some reviews within that application showcasing what your thoughts are on the Evidence Based Chiropractor podcast. I would greatly appreciate it. I will be back next week. Hope you have a fantastic week in practice and I will talk to you soon.

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