The effect of cervical spine adjustments on low back pain in the workforce of the corporate environment

• Main Author: Bornman, Jaco Casper
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: Manipulation (Therapeutics); Chiropractic treatment of backache
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/844

This unblinded, controlled pilot study was undertaken to determine if cervical spine adjustments had an effect on improving the low back pain in the workforce of the corporate environment. Subjects were treated at the Technikon Witwatersrand chiropractic day clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa. Thirty corporate employees suffering from low back pain were selected for this study. Subjects were recruited using posters put up at the Technikon Witwatersrand campus and at companies in and around Johannesburg. The patients were divided into three groups of ten. One group received chiropractic adjustments of the cervical spine. The second group received chiropractic adjustments of the lumbar spine and sacroiliac joints. The third group received a combination of chiropractic adjustments of the cervical spine, lumbar spine and sacroiliac joints. Patients were treated nine times over a four-week period. Objective data was recorded using a Digital Inclinometer to measure lumbar spine range of motion. Subjective data was obtained by participants recording their progress on the Oswestry Back Disability Index and Visual Analogue Pain Scale. The results showed that there was a statistically significant improvement in the pain and disability experienced by the patients in all three groups for the subjective measurements. There was however no statistically significant increase in range of motion in the lumbar spine for all three groups according to the objective measurements. This study concluded that cervical spine adjustments had a positive effect on improving the low back pain and disability experienced by the workforce in the corporate environment. === Dr. Barrett Losco Dr. Pauline Moolman