Medical guidelines help doctors understand the best way to treat health conditions. Surprisingly, many doctors do not adhere to them, and this is a problem, according to a new study by scientists at the University of Utah, studying health and MD guidelines. People with lower back pain injury miss 11 more days of work in a year when they only receive treatments for lower back pain that are not recommended by medical guidelines compared to people treated according to guidelines. The findings were published in PLOS ONE. Among the nearly 60,000 people whose medical claims were analyzed:

14% received non-recommended treatments only,
51% received a mix of non-recommended and recommended treatments,
14% received recommended treatments only,
and 21% did not receive any medical intervention.

People who received recommended treatments combined with non-recommended treatments saw an intermediate benefit, missing a median of eight workdays within the year as compared to those who exclusively received recommended treatments.

The most common non-recommended treatment was prescriptions for opioids, which are discouraged because they reinforce debility instead of exercise and can be addictive.

Among the recommendation statements of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine Guidelines for treatment of acute low back pain are manipulation, manual therapy, massage, and heat. Of course, these are the basic elements of your local chiropractor’s expert hands-on treatment of low back pain.

Presented as a service to the community by: Union County Chiropractic Clinic, 110 Skyline Drive, Maynardville, TN (865) 992-7000 www.unioncountychiropractic.com.