Relief for chronic low back pain

Chronic low back pain (LBP) costs the U.S. more than $100 billion annually.

by Dr. Bill Gallagher — 

Chronic low back pain (LBP) costs the U.S. more than $100 billion annually. While chiropractors and their patients have long known that adjustments can help this condition, there is little research to support it. That changed on April 8, 2011, when research on the effectiveness of Directional Non-Force Technique® (DNFT) adjustments was presented at the World Federation of Chiropractic Biennial Congress in Rio de Janeiro.

Subjects chosen for the study had to have suffered from chronic LBP for three months or longer. The subjects (who averaged less than 46.75 years of age) reported suffering from LBP for an average of 11 years. They were given a total of six DNFT adjustments in one month — twice a week for two weeks, with follow-up adjustments at the third and fourth weeks.

Measurements taken before and after the DNFT adjustments showed that the subjects who received those six adjustments realized, on average, a 50 percent improvement.

A DNFT adjustment is the original low-force chiropractic technique upon which all others are based. The technique is highly specific, very gentle and has been proven to be effective. Unlike traditional adjustments using the popping and cracking methods that make many patients uncomfortable, DNFT adjustments are administered with a gentle thumb thrust in a specific direction to yield the greatest results.

This study supports several other studies in the current literature, suggesting that chiropractic care can improve chronic LBP by decreasing pain intensity and functional disability, while improving overall health. The difference is that DNFT chiropractic care achieved results with just six adjustments.

Dr. Bill Gallagher is a chiropractor in Scottsdale, Ariz. He has practiced DNFT chiropractic for more than 25 years, and his research is now taught as part of the technique. www.drbillgallagher.com or 480-513-3909.

Reprinted from AZNetNews, Volume 30, Number 3, June/July 2011.