Chiropractic Proven Effective for Sciatica - Premier Alternative Health

Managing sciatic pain can be broken down into surgical and non-surgical interventions.  The first wave of treatment should be of a conservative nature.  In a recent article by McMorland, Suter, Casha, du Plessis, and Hurlbert (2010), the authors stated, “Nonoperative management has been demonstrated to be beneficial in more than 50% of patients with sciatica; however, there are no established guidelines for appropriate medical management strategies” (p. 576).  This study sought to demonstrate the effectiveness of spinal manipulative therapy in the conservative management of sciatic patients.

 Patients that “fail” conservative care for sciatica are generally referred for surgical intervention, particularly microdiscectomy.  “Elective lumbar diskectomy is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures in the United States, now exceeding 250,000 cases per year” (McMorland et al., 2010, p 576). Therefore, the information contained in this paper has significant implications for many patients.

Interestingly, spinal manipulation is not generally considered in the conservative care paradigm with the authors stating, “Most studies define conventional nonoperative care as exercise, analgesics, and/or epidural injections without reference to active spinal manipulation. However, spinal manipulation for sciatica has been found to be related to positive patient and cost outcomes when compared to medical management (McMorland et al., 2010, p. 576-577).

“Most of the patients who were considered surgical candidates for the treatment of radiculopathy from LDH [lumbar disc herniation] improved with standardized spinal manipulative care to the same degree as those who had undergone surgery” (McMorland et al., 2010, p. 583). The results of this study showed that spinal manipulative therapy should be considered as a part of the conservative management of patients with sciatica, especially in those patients that have failed other measures. 

 

Dr. Sean Billings- Premier Alternative Health Center- 473-0399

 

 

Reference:

McMorland, G., Suter, E., Casha, S., du Plessis, S. J., & Hurlbert, R. J. (2010). Manipulation or microdiskectomy for sciatica? A prospective randomized clinical study. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 33(8), 576-584.

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