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By Editorial Staff Chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) was recently examined in a study to assess its impact on "escalated...

Chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) was recently examined in a study to assess its impact on “escalated spine care” for low back pain (LBP) patients. Escalated spine care includes imaging studies, injection procedures, emergency department visits, surgery, and opioid medication use. For this study, patients receiving chiropractic SMT care were categorized based on visits per episode of back pain: low – one visit, moderate – 2-12 visits, and high – 13+ visits. Investigators reviewed health insurance claims from 2012–2018 for this retrospective cohort study, which included 83,025 claims representing 11,114 unique back pain episodes. They computed the relative risk of each form of escalated spine care for each of the three SMT groups compared to those patients who did not receive any chiropractic SMT:

Low SMT Group

 

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    • 47% less likely to receive imaging

 

    • 70% less likely to get injections

 

    • 92% less likely to end up in an emergency department

 

    • 51% less likely to undergo surgery

 

    • 67% less likely to take opioids

 

 

Moderate SMT Group

 

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    • 27% less likely to receive imaging

 

    • 74% less likely to get injections

 

    • 79% less likely to end up in an emergency department

 

    • 60% less likely to undergo surgery

 

    • 63% less likely to take opioids