How Does Chiropractic Compare with Acupuncture and Medicine?

A study published in a 2003 issue of the journal Spine, a leading medical research journal among orthopedic doctors, compared chiropractic, acupuncture and medical treatment for both spinal pain and overall health. The study was a well designed randomized controlled clinical trial conducted over a nine week period. Participants covered a broad socioeconomic and age range.

So how does chiropractic compare to acupuncture and medical treatment? See for yourself...

On pain relief, improved function and range of motion there is no comparison. In these areas chiropractic is nearly 5 times more effective than acupuncture and nearly 10 times more effective than medicine. The drugs used in the medical group included two non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (ibuprofen and naproxen) along with an analgesic (Celebrex)

The "General Health" results were not a measure of back pain, but were a standardized test allowing the patient to rate their own perception of their overall health. Interestingly, those people receiving chiropractic care not only got better improvement in pain and functionality, they also experienced greater overall improvement in their own sense of health and well being.

Back in 1895 when Dr. D.D. Palmer first discovered chiropractic he adjusted the spine of a deaf man and his hearing came back. Like many developments in medical science and technology the event was somewhat serendipitous. Dr. Palmer thought that he had discovered the cure for deafness. Deaf patients came from all over to see if he could replicate the feat. To his and their disappointment there were no more deafness cures. But something else happened. His patients began to report that other ailments began to resolve such as stomach problems, headaches and many other illnesses. Dr. Palmer realized that chiropractic was correcting a deeper problem in the body - what became know as vertebral subluxation - which we now realize is the root of fundamental neurological dsyfunction in the body which leads to pain, illness and disease.

Dr. Philip Greenwood, D.C.
Murrieta, California

P.S: One example of a medical procedure discovered quite by accident is Radial Keratotomy (RK) which today is performed with a laser as Lasik. The procedure was discovered in Russia by Dr. Svyatoslav Fyodorov when he operated on a young boy who had been in a bicycle accident. The boy's eyeglasses had broken in his face and glass splinters were lodged into his eyes. Dr. Fyodorov made several radial incisions in the corneal tissue in order to remove the glass. When the cornea healed, the doctor found that the boy's eyesight was improved. His next most obvious thought must have been, "Could I do this on purpose?"

The Post-It note was another such accident. A chemist at 3M research made a bad batch of adhesive which turned out to not stick very well. Turns out the super-weak adhesive was the birth of the post-it! The notion that science and medicine always progress methodically is not true. Some great developments have been by shear luck.