A new study finds that chiropractic and medical care have comparable costs for treating chronic low-back pain, with chiropractic care producing significantly better outcomes. A group of chronic low-back patients who underwent chiropractic treatment showed higher pain relief and satisfaction with the care and lower disability scores than a group that underwent medical care, according to an October 2005 study in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics (JMPT).
Although several cost-effectiveness studies outside the United States have favorably compared chiropractic to medical care, this new study is one of the first to compare low-back treatment costs and outcomes within the structure of the American health care system. In the United States alone, back pain associated costs are estimated to reach $48 billion this year, and, at any given time, 80 percent of the U.S. population suffers from back pain – statistics that make this study especially pertinent, according to the authors.
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