Chiropractic and Cost Efficiency
The Journal of Manual and Physiologic Therapeutics (JMPT) has published a study showing that the medical costs for the treatment of back pain, when the initial contact for the complaint was a chiropractor, was 40% lower thatn the costs for standard medical care for the same diagnosis. The study examined over 85,000 individuals with back pain over a 2 year period that were insured by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Tennessee. This study joins a growing body of evidence supporting the cost effectiveness of chiropractic care in an era of runaway health care costs. It also represents the treatment effectiveness of chiropractic technique, which often allows a patient to avoid prescription drugs and surgery.
Clinic Technique - Graston
Dr.'s Cohen and Haydu are certified in Graston Technique (GT). GT is an instrument assisted soft tissue management system for the treatment of acute and chronic muscle, tendon, or ligament injuries. GT has been shown in the clinical literature to be a safe and effective treatment for injury recovery and rehabilitation. Graston has become popular worldwide and is used by more than 180 professional and amateur sports organizations. Please visit www.grastontechnique.com for more information.
Exercise and Mental Health
A recent study at Duke University demonstrated that 30 minutes of brisk exercise is as effective as medication for the relief of depression, and, keeps depression symptoms from returning. Before prescribing expensive and potentially dangerous medication, physicians should first recommend exercise and also check for low blood sugar and hypothyroidism, two conditions that can produce depressive symptoms. The Archives of General Psychiatry states that more than 10 percent of Americans now take antidepressants, double the rate since 1996. Interestingly, more than half of those prescriptions are for problems other than depression including back pain, nerve pain, fatigue, or sleep difficulties; symptoms that have been proven to be effectively treated with exercise!
New Study on Chiropractic Shows Clinical Efficacy and Cost Effectiveness....Again
The Foundation for Chiropractic Progress (www.f4cp.com) is proud to present one of the most significant reports regarding the cost effectiveness and clinical efficacy of chiropractic care in the history of the profession. Prepared by two distinguished and globally renowned medical researchers, the esteemed authors Niteesh Choudhry, MD, PhD of Harvard Medical School and Arnold Milstein, MD of Mercer Health and Benefits, San Francisco, CA, developed this authoritative report which reviews the existing peer reviewed literature and arrives at the following conclusions:
- Chiropractic care is widely used with almost half of all patients with persistent back pain.
- Chiropractic care for the treatment "for low back and neck pain is highly cost effective, represents a good value in comparison to medical physician case and to widely accepted cost effectiveness thresholds."
- "The addition of chiropractic coverage for the treatment of low back and neck pain...will likely increase value-for-dollar by improving clinical outcomes..."
- " …we project that insurance coverage for chiropractic physician care...is likely to drive improved cost effectiveness of US care."
- "…our findings support the value of health insurance coverage of chiropractic care for low back and neck pain at average fees currently payable by US commercial insurers."