Health Library

In the September 2001 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, there was a report on the effectiveness of chiropractic care, specifically labeled “SMT” in the study, for patients with chronic headaches. The data for this report was gathered from nine trials involving 683 patients with chronic headaches.

In this study, chiropractic adjustments (termed SMT in the study) were compared to massage and medications for short-term relief of up to six weeks after a month of care. The question of long-term health benefits was not addressed. Results showed that the chiropractic group did better than the massage group. The group that received medication also showed relief; however, the rate of side effects for the medication group was considerably higher than the chiropractic group. This difference gave a decidedly large advantage to chiropractic over the medication.

According to the report, the financial cost of headaches is great, with billions of dollars spent annually for lost productivity and treatment. The study also noted that people affected by headaches have commonly been treated by medical practitioners. Recently, however, they are increasingly turning to non-medical or alternative therapies for relief. A recent study from Harvard University by Dr. Eisenberg reported that one of the most common alternative practitioners sought out for the treatment of headaches was the chiropractor. This study confirms what most chiropractors and their patients have already known: that chiropractic is one of the most effective avenues of health for headache sufferers.