Chiropractic Care for Treating Low Back Pain

Chiropractic is a health care profession dedicated to the non-surgical treatment of disorders of the nervous system and/or musculoskeletal system. Generally, chiropractors maintain a unique focus on spinal manipulation and treatment of surrounding structures. When patients with non-specific chronic low back pain are treated by chiropractors, the long-term outcome is enhanced by obtaining maintenance spinal manipulation after the initial intensive manipulative therapy.


A 2018 study of chiropractic care for treating low back pain, researchers enrolled 750 active-duty military personnel who complained of back pain. Half were randomly assigned to receive usual care including medications, self-care, and physical therapy while the other half received usual care plus up to 12 chiropractic treatments.



After six weeks of treatment, those assigned to receive chiropractic care:


reported less pain intensity

experienced less disability and more improvement in function

reported higher satisfaction with their treatment

needed less pain medicine.


While no serious side effects were reported, about 10% of those receiving chiropractic care described adverse effects mostly stiffness in the joints or muscles. Five percent of those receiving usual care had similar complaints.


Core Chiropractic Treatment

The core of chiropractic usually involves treatment of common lower back pain conditions through manual therapy:


Spinal manipulation and manual manipulation. This type of manual manipulation refers to a high-velocity, short lever arm thrust that is applied to abnormal vertebra with the goal of improving functionality, reducing nerve irritability and restoring range of motion in the back. It is also commonly known as chiropractic adjustment.


There is firm literature support for chiropractic treatment of lower back pain. Many of the published guidelines recommend chiropractic manipulation to be included in the treatment plan early in the care of lower back pain.


Mobilization. Chiropractic mobilization refers to low velocity manipulation, movement and stretching of the muscles and joints, with the goal of increasing the range of motion within those areas.

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