It's of limited interest to those outside the profession but for those inside a real sea change occurred last week when the General Chiropractic Council finally put to bed an old chiropractic tenant that manipulation on a regular basis improves health. This defunct idea has been called the subluxation theory. Most chiropractors who have considered the evidence have realized this for decades however there are chiropractors who to this day promulgate the subluxation theory and practice accordingly. Still the shift that this most ...
I often tell some of my more anxious back pain patients that "backs get better". And for the most part this is perfectly true; of course there are people for whom back pain will be ever present and for these people we can only have the greatest sympathy. Long term pain of any kind is a truly awful thing. Even so, for many, backs do get better and this little nugget of information is often a complete surprise. Back pain is so incredibly common that should I grab the first 100 adults ...
Discs don’t slip. They split, bulge, leak or break up but they don’t slip The spine is made up of 24 vertebra, the sacrum and the coccyx. In between each of the vertebra there is a disc. There are 50 joints that join the spine together called facet joints. In old age, the bone of the spine can be so soft that a surgeon could leave a finger impression in it. If subjected to large compressive loads the vertebra will often buckle before the discs do. The discs in-between each ...
Core stability is a buzz phrase in rehabilitation circles and part of the core stability programme for the abdominal muscles often involves doing sit-ups or modified sit-ups (Crunches). Professor Stuart McGill, a leading biomechanics researcher established that the compressive load on the lumbar spine when doing a sit-up or a crunch is in excess of 3300N (about 730lbs). The USA's National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health has set the action limit for low back compression at 3400N. It has been found that repetitive lifting loads that generate this sort of compressive force on ...
The General Chiropractic Council has commissioned a document called the UK Evidence Report. Written by a number of the top chiropractic scientists in the world this report attempts to gather together a definitive round-up of the evidence for manual therapies for the treatment of musculoskeletal conditions and some non-musculoskeletal conditions. The document has been generally well received within the chiropractic community who recognise that this is an exercise that is well overdue and provides a real solid footing for those who look to evidence to inform their everyday practice. I have yet to see much in the way of response from ...
