Report: Spinal Manipulation is best

-Reprinted from USA TODAY October 29, 1993

Not many U.S. doctors have heard about the new Canadian back pain study, but they probably will soon - because chiropractors can't stop talking about it.

The study - done by a team of Canadian health economists commissioned and funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health - is based on an extensive review of international medical literature, as well as interviews with researchers, practitioners and patients.

Its conclusion: that the best clinical studies show spinal manipulation by chiropractors is more effective,

safer and more cost-effective than other treatments for low-back pain.

The report's principal researcher, Pran Manga, says chiropractors could save hundreds of millions of dollars a year, but he doesn't stop there. "Many medical therapies are of questionable validity or are clearly inadequate." some are "unsafe," and even cause complications, the report says.

Manga says he found "good empirical evidence patients are very satisfied" with chiropractors and "considerably less satisfied with physician management" of low-back pain. Many pay out-of-pocket for chiropractor bills not covered by insurance; they wouldn't if it didn't help, he says.

Manga, reached by phone at the University of Ottawa, where he is a professor, says he is "a little embarrassed" at having become chiropractors' champion.

"I don't know where they got the study - I did not talk to a single chiropractor or person working with them, and they did not know the study was being done," he says.

He knows his report may benefit chiropractors. But it seems so positive one can't help but wonder: does he have some personal interest in giving chiropractors a boost?

"My interest is serving the public interest," he responds. "It's not personal, and not family-related. If anything, I have many (medical) doctors in my family.

He simply believes his findings. "The evidence is overpowering," he says.

When asked why, if this is true, medical doctors don't seem to know it, Manga says, "I think doctors do know chiropractors are better and more effective" for back pain. "Their beef is (chiropractors) also treat other kinds of problems."