Today I did an exciting presentation at Milwaukee's VA hospital on the topic of lumbar disc herniation. It was a summary on the current evidence supporting the case for chiropractic care. Wow, the research is much better today than it was fifteen or even ten years ago.
It seems that scholarly research is feathering out the details regarding the effectiveness of side-posture adjustments/manipulation for patients suffering from pain associated with a lumbar disc herniation. For decades, chiropractic research was aiming to establish the very basis that chiropractic did in fact help people with low back pain, neck pain, etc., but today the answers are revealing that certain techniques/approaches are better than others, especially in regards to certain conditions (scoliosis, migraines, disc herniations).
For example, those techniques defined as Palmer Package, Diversified, or generalized osteopathic manipulation yield good results for low back pain determined of mechanical origin and arguably slightly less than good results for low back pain resulting from a lumbar disc herniation. However, when utilizing techniques such as Gonstead or Cox Flexion-Distraction better patient outcomes appear.
Comparing X technique to Y technique for Z condition is still a few years away in chiropractic research, but in looking at the details of some of the most recent research studies, the Gonstead technique may be rising to the top regarding the care for lumbar disc herniation--something I love working on.
For the audience's pleasure, I have a link to a wonderful review on the current state of chiropractic research that tackles everything from headaches to low back pain. Again, caution has to be used when reading such documents because ongoing research can often be at odds with previous results. The evidence for chiropractic for specific ailments is growing and helping to clarify the role of chiropractic according to the rules of the allopathic healthcare system.
http://healthlibrary.epnet.com/print.aspx?token=af362d97-4f80-4453-a175-02cc6220a387&chunkiid=37431
Dr. Matt