Why You Need to Add Chiropractic to Usual Medical Care | Podcast Ep. 127

Hello and welcome to the Evidence Based Chiropractor. I AM your host, Dr. Jeff Langmaid. This week we are back with a great piece of research that literally came out just this past week. It's pragmatic, it's actionable, it's something you can utilize in practice this week and I am pumped to get into it. Additionally, a little bit of housekeeping before we dive into the research. Thank you a ton for listening. Last week I was announcing that we had reached over 10,000 downloads of the Evidence Based Chiropractor podcast in a single week and everybody listening. You guys went crazy because this past week, I'm happy to come back on now and say last week was over 11,000 downloads in a single week. Week. So I am grateful. I am humbled. If you have the opportunity, leave us feedback or review or rating on itunes. That helps us reach more and more. Share it with a friend, share it with a colleague. But thank you so much for listening. We will continue. I will continue to do my best to deliver the goods every single week. And this week, as I said at the top, a super exciting piece of research that was just released this past week and was getting a ton of traction online. The title of this is Effect of Usual Medical Care Plus Chiropractic Care versus Usual Medical Care Alone on Pain and Disability Among US Service Members With Low Back Pain A Comparative Effectiveness Clinical Trial. I will also have this linked in the show notes, so don't hesitate to grab it there. It's on the JAMA Open Network. I'm going to repeat that title one more time. The Effect of Usual Medical Care Plus Chiropractic Care versus Usual Medical Care Alone on Pain and Disability Among US Service Members With Low Back Pain A Comparative Effectiveness Clinical Trial. So I love a paper like this. These really get me going because it's true to what we see every day in practice. Many patients that come into your practice are concurrently seeing a medical doctor. They have a primary care doctor, maybe they have a neurologist or an orthopedist, but they're getting that quote unquote usual medical care from somebody in your town or community. And what we are doing, what you are doing is adding chiropractic care. So it's very rare that patients are choosing one versus the other. If you have a very established wellness practice and people are relying on you for a majority of their healthcare, that might be the case. But still a lot of people out there are doing both, right? They're adding chiropractic care in. If you're a Member of the evidence based chiropractor. And you're getting referrals in from other medical doctors in your community. It's 100% true because these people are being referred in after seeing their medical doctor. So it's very pragmatic and it's very clinical in terms of day to day practice. Those are things that get me excited. Now, this paper, the results that we're gonna dive into momentarily are absolutely awesome. But here's some just to kind of set the table as far as this is concerned. This took place at three sites and it took place over the course of a few different years. Two large military medical centers and one smaller hospital at a military training site. And it was active US service members, 18 to 50 years with low back pain from a musculoskeletal source. So there's nobody with kind of organic complaints, so to speak. So this is really the wheelhouse, right? 18 to 50 people that are actively engaged in the workforce, in this case, they are in the military and they have musculoskeletal conditions causing the pain. These are where. These are patients that we should have a home run with. And that's exactly what this research showcases. So I'm gonna dive into a few quotes from the researchers here and I think it'll really set the stage for what they were able to accomplish. So they found, quote, adjusted mean differences in scores at week six were statistically significant in favor of usual medical care plus chiropractic care compared with usual medical care alone for low back pain intensity. So that means when chiropractic was added, there was a statistically significant difference in terms of reducing that pain. That very, very important there. Additionally, they found adjusted odd ratios at week six were also statistically significant in favor of usual medical care plus chiropractic overall for perceived improvement and self reported pain medication use. That is fantastic. I mean, we've seen time and time again throughout late last year into early this year, the opioid crisis, right? People just medications that are truly killing people. And a lot of people get into that the very sort of benign way. They have back pain, they have chronic low back pain, maybe they have a disc herniation or injury. Next thing they know, they've gone up the chain from NSAIDS to opioids and they are truly addicted to the tune of millions of people, truly addicted to opioids in the United States right now. So this is a big, big deal when we look at active US Service members or even if we take it outside of that population. But when adding Chiropractic care not only provides a statistically significant reduction in pain, but also the perceived value of care and the self reported pain medication use. That is a huge, huge, huge deal and I just don't think that that can be overstated. Ultimately, the researchers also found chiropractic care when added to usual medical care and resulted in moderate short term treatment benefits in both low back pain intensity and disability, demonstrated a low risk of harms and led to a high patient satisfaction and perceived improvement in active duty military personnel. This trial provides an additional support for the inclusion of chiropractic as a component of multidisciplinary healthcare for low back pain as currently recommended in existing guidelines. I literally can't say that better myself. This research paper is just, it's over the moon. So this is one that you definitely want to dig into. These are great conversation starters for the individuals in your practice. Bottom line is when chiropractic care is added to usual medical care, patients receive better results, in my opinion. Why? Because chiropractic works. Because getting in there, adjusting the joint, gapping those facet joints, working the disc, getting motion into a segment that's not moving appropriately, the impact on the nervous system, these are all things that are absolutely crucial to the healing process. And there are very little if any other modalities that offer that than the chiropractic adjustment. So research like this is fantastic. Hats off to the researchers who put this together. A multi year study, multiple sites, US Military personnel. It is an endeavor to put together a study like this and to come out on the backside with those magic words that we love to hear in literature. Statistically significant reductions in pain, statistically significant perceived value of care is just exceptionally, exceptionally important. And again, we look at multiple sites, we look at hundreds of people enrolled in this study and it is something that all of us should be able to talk to. Additionally, not only speaking to your patients, is this a great study. This is just creme de la creme when you're speaking to other healthcare providers, right? Primary care doctors in your community who are seeing patients. We know 30% of a daily primary care doctor volume is related to spine or musculoskeletal complaints. 30%. So there is a ton of people in your community. When we extrapolate that, what does that mean? Well, that means there's a ton of people in primary care doctor offices in your community that should be being referred into your practice for what you do. How many of them are making it there? Well, that's a question for a different day. But this study is one that is great to get out there in your community, to get out there to these other care providers and let them know, hey, take a look at what the literature is showing. When chiropractic care is added into what you're doing, you're not trying to take away from them. You're not trying to steal their patients, so to speak, you're not putting them down with what they do. But when chiropractic care is added, it's unequivocal what the results are in research like this. Showcasing it is a great way to bridge that gap. And now if you listened a couple weeks back, we talked about why research is so important when reaching out case notes. They're great. But case notes ebb and flow with who walks into your front door. You can't control that every time. So you have indirect control. You could go months without seeing a patient and being able to send a case note. Additionally, meetings build rapport. Hey awesome. We coach on that. The evidence based chiropractor all the time. We have a whole system and process behind it. But, but meetings are a little bit more difficult to get and you cannot get into somebody's office nor would they want you every single month shaking their hand and saying hi. But when you can deliver research each and every month, it's just marketing. You need to have a consistent touch point. Meetings and case notes do not give you a consistent touch point. They are important. They are the other two legs of the stool. Aside from research, research gives you that exact advantage. Monthly touch points with individuals. Now when I say research, please don't misconstrue that. I do not mean printing out a 20 page paper and sending it over. That is punishment for other providers. That is not value add. It's about breaking it down into actionable content for them, putting your logo on it, teaching, educating, being that beacon in your community. If you want to learn more about that, you know where to find out. The evidencebasedchiropractor.com that is what we do with our membership for all doctors each and every month. Also all members of the evidence based chiropractor that are listening right now. Thank you guys a ton. They have been putting up some killer testimony in our private members group that I'm sure to get out there to everybody soon. But the results that they've been getting have been off, off, off the, off the charts there. So I'm looking forward to getting that out. But this research paper, a great one to share. Click through on the show notes. Check it out. I'm also going to through the Evidence Based Chiropractor Facebook page. Hopefully you like that already. If not, head over there and like that because I'm gonna put out some video content related to this study later on this week as well, which will be great to share with the individuals in your community. So being said, keep up the great work, keep on listening please, and if you have a chance, leave us rating or review. Have a great week in practice and I will talk to you soon.

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