There is a buzz-word floating around right now in Health Care – It’s called Integrative Medicine. I’d like to introduce a similar concept; Integrative Chiropractic Care. While “medicine” is the practice of diagnosis and treatment of disease (usually with drugs and surgery); Chiropractic focuses on restoration and maintenance of health and is the largest drug-free healing profession in the world.
Consumer Reports published an article in 2011: called “Is Integrative medicine right for you?” The article states, “ They found that three out of four of their subscribers used some form of alternative therapy: More than 38 million adults make more than 300 million visits to acupuncturists, chiropractors, massage therapists, and other complementary and alternative practitioners each year in the U.S.” https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2013/01/is-integrative-medicine-right-for-you-and-what-is-it-anyway/index.htm
A research study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine found that Integrated medical care was very effective at creating significant improvements in individual’s quality of life. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3153865/
The scientific validity of chiropractic care has been well established. The National Institutes of Health had this to say about Chiropractic Science:
“A 2010 review of scientific evidence on manual therapies for a range of conditions concluded that spinal manipulation/mobilization may be helpful for several conditions in addition to back pain, including migraine and cervicogenic (neck-related) headaches, neck pain, upper- and lower-extremity joint conditions, and whiplash-associated disorders…” https://nccih.nih.gov/health/chiropractic/introduction.htm
The chiropractor often employs other modalities, and/or works with other alternative practitioners. These practices include massage therapy, nutritional therapy, exercise modalities, and other drug-free approaches. When the practice, and published research of chiropractic is understood, chiropractic stands as a central component of integrated health care.
