If you have chronic (long-term) low back pain, is manipulation or mobilization of the joints in your back a good option for you? This type of treatment is commonly known as the “adjustments” that patients often receive in chiropractic offices for painful conditions.

The answer depends on the specific nature of your condition of course, and you should always seek a professional assessment with a health care provider to know what the best treatment options are for you. But having said that, a recent study published in The Spine Journal (2018) gives confidence that manipulation and mobilization are likely to reduce pain and increase function for patients with chronic low back pain.

The study reviewed past research studies that compared manipulation/mobilization to other active therapies, like exercise, and found that treatment with manipulation in particular showed improvement in both pain ratings and functional status for patients with chronic low back pain. 

Does this mean you should avoid activity and focus treatment on manipulation alone? Definitely not! 

It simply means that research on manipulation of joints continues to collect positive evidence for its use with chronic low back pain patients, and this offers one more avenue towards relief for those suffering with discomfort. 

**The Takeaway: managing chronic low back pain with manipulation or mobilization treatments (like those often provided by a chiropractor) continue to gather support for reducing pain levels and increasing the functional status of long-suffering patients.**

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#chiropractic #lowbackpain #drjimgilliard #burlingtonchiro

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Find the study here: http://bit.ly/pubmed29371112

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Photo by Toralf Thomassen on Unsplash