Spinal Manipulation May Reduce Lumbar Spine Reoperations

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 24, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) may cut lumbar spine reoperation in adults experiencing lumbosacral radiculopathy (LSR) at least one year after lumbar discectomy, according to a study published online Jan. 10 in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders.

Robert J. Trager, D.C., from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, and colleagues compared rates of lumbar spine reoperation for adult patients with LSR following lumbar discectomy undergoing chiropractic SMT versus those receiving usual care without chiropractic SMT. The analysis included 378 patients in each group.

The researchers found that lumbar spine reoperation was less frequent in the SMT cohort compared with the usual care cohort (SMT: 7 percent; usual care: 13 percent), yielding a risk ratio of 0.55. Among the SMT group, nearly three-quarters of participants (72 percent) had one or more follow-up SMT visit (median, six visits).

"While these findings hold promise for clinical implications, they should be corroborated by a prospective study including measures of pain, disability, and safety to confirm their relevance," the authors write. "We cannot exclude the possibility that our results stem from a generalized effect of engaging with a non-surgical clinician, a factor that may extend to related contexts such as physical therapy or acupuncture."

Abstract/Full Text