Chiropractic Care More Affordable Than Multidisciplinary Care

A study in the journal Chiropractic & Manual Therapies showed that chiropractic care alone was more affordable and similarly as effective as multidisciplinary which included chiropractic for the treatment of patients suffering with low back pain. The study, published on March 1, 2022, was titled, "Multidisciplinary integrative care versus chiropractic care for low back pain: a randomized clinical trial."

This study attempted to see if there was a difference in outcomes between chiropractic care alone verses a multidisciplinary approach, which included chiropractic, in the care for patients suffering with lower back pain. This study looked at two groups of people suffering with either sub-acute or chronic lower back pain. The care for each of these groups was only rendered for a 12-week period, but the results of that care were tracked for a year after care began.

The primary outcome that the study was examining was pain intensity. However, the study also looked at secondary outcomes including disability, improvement, medication use, quality of life, patient satisfaction, frequency of symptoms, and missed days of work or reduced activities day. Participant’s results were reported on weeks 4, 12, 26 and 52 after the beginning of care.

A total of 201 participants were enrolled in the study and randomly divided into two groups. One group received only chiropractic care, while the other group received several different types of care which included exercise therapy, self-care education, traditional Chinese medicine, massage therapy, chiropractic care, cognitive behavioral therapy, and medication.

The results of the study showed that both groups experienced considerable improvements in all measured outcomes. The group that received the multiple types of care got marginally better results as far as pain relief and disability. On average, the multidisciplinary group showed a few percentage points better relief of their symptoms throughout this study.

One of the drawbacks that the researchers pointed out was that the cost of the multidisciplinary care was considerably higher than the chiropractic care alone. They also noted that the group that received multidisciplinary care had more doctor visits and was less convenient for the patients, as well as on average each visit lasting much longer. They also noted that the multidisciplinary care was logistically difficult to coordinate the various types of care from a provider standpoint.

It should also be noted that the multidisciplinary care included the continual use of medications, which carries its own inherent risk from side effects. Ongoing use of medication is opposite the goal of most pain care which is to have the patient no longer need pain medication.

The authors sum up the results of the study and their conclusions by stating, "Low back pain patients who received integrative care by a multidisciplinary integrative care team tended to have better outcomes than those who received chiropractic care. However, given the relatively small magnitude of between group differences and the extensive resources required to successfully manage and implement, the team based integrative care might not be worthwhile."