Jeff LangmaidFounder, The Evidence Based Chiropractor

Conversation Is a Clinical Skill

12 Jun 2026 · 1 min

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In this segment of his talk, Jeff Langmaid reviews a study involving young adults with chronic nonspecific low back pain. All participants received the same lumbar spinal adjustment, but they were pre‑conditioned with either a positive, neutral, or negative verbal message. The outcomes differed across groups, confirming that the clinician’s pre‑treatment messaging influences patient response. Langmaid stresses that this effect is not surprising but underscores that the nuances of conversational framing are critical and must be treated as a learned clinical skill, on par with the physical adjustment itself.

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In this study looked at young adults with chronic nonspecific low back pain and asked a, a pretty interesting question. If everybody receives the same lumbar spinal adjustment, but one group gets a positive message before the adjustment, one group gets a neutral message, and one group gets a negative message, do their outcomes change? Well, you know, spoiler alert, the answer's gonna be yes, which is probably not a shock to you, but we'll dive into the details. And the details of this I think are nuanced. They matter, and they should be something that you keep top of mind This is not something for many of us that's totally automatic yet. It really is a skill. Conversation is a skill, just like the adjustments that you deliver.