Back Pain Advice??

[Doc]

I think the research paper mentioned is being misunderstood.

- it showed that spinal manipulation WAS effective for back pain.

- it was a study of 26 trials, not 26 patients.

- it showed that spinal manipulation was ineffective for asthma, period pain, colic, etc. It is hard to see how manipulating the spine could possibly benefit these problems, so perhaps this is not a surprising result.

 

[bushtuckerman]

hmm, well i'm glad i didn't throw a spanner in the works to no avail! i think something has come out of it a least.

yeah i would agree, i don't think you can get much that is valid from 26 subjects in any medical study.

the reason i posted the report was because i didn't really understand the implications of it, and i am interested in how so-called 'alternative' medicines and treatments are received.

i think something which could be taken into consideration is that many of these practices, particularly accupuncture, can be performed incorrectly. i mention accupuncture because i have heard several people (some chinese friends, some people i practice the taoist arts with) rubbish the way that it is interpreted by the west, and how it is mis-used as a result. but i have not personally benefited or otherwise from any of the mentioned treatments, although my fitness (and my back) has improved noticeably since beginning the Feng Shou.

 

[Spacemonkey]

I spoke to my chiro tonight during my torture session about this. He reckons that the guy does this 'research' and debunking every 5 years or so and seems to have a real chip on his shoulder about Chiropractors. Maybe his wife ran off with one? And that also most of his studies are based on his own patients. Or so I'm told. Whatever, it really works for me..

 

[bushtuckerman]

I would have to concur in that sense. science is going through a bad stage.

 

[Goose]

I don't really consider it an "alternative" treatment as such, I know people who have benefited from accupuncture but cannot see how the hell it would work, that is alternative.
Chiropractice has some sense of cause and effect for most treatments so personally I would consider it a "normal" treatment for physiological problems, but I suppose using it for asthma and period pain would be alternative.

Just my own take on it.

 

[bushtuckerman]

yup. what you said about seeing the cause, but having the effect seem totally unrelated, or at least unseen, is what i would consider alternative.

it is a fundamental difference in my view. western medicines and treatments are often built on treating the symptoms rather than the cause, sometimes it works, and sometimes people take the drugs given to them and have no idea what they're supposed to be doing! alternative treatments seem to go for the root of the problem more often, and in doing so they can succeed, or not.

 

[Doc]

yup. what you said about seeing the cause, but having the effect seem totally unrelated, or at least unseen, is what i would consider alternative.

it is a fundamental difference in my view. western medicines and treatments are often built on treating the symptoms rather than the cause, sometimes it works, and sometimes people take the drugs given to them and have no idea what they're supposed to be doing! alternative treatments seem to go for the root of the problem more often, and in doing so they can succeed, or not.

I disagree with that! Medicine would be very easy if we just treated symptoms.


The study mentioned was done by Professor Ernst, who is Professor of Complementary Medicine at Peninsula medical School. He has been very dedicated in trying to establish which complementary treatments work, and which ones don't. It is a fact that many trials of complementary therapies have shown no benefit over placebo. It is also true that some complementary therapies (St Johns Wort for depression, or chiropractic treatment for back pain, for example) have been repeatedly shown in clinical trials to be effective.

http://education.guardian.co.uk/academicexperts/story/0,1392,1048903,00.html