A Call for Chiropractic New research means the time is ‘now’ for non-surgical spinal decompression Pre-and post-N-SSD MRI for Mr. Laurent Goldstein – used here with patient’s permission. T Gary Dixon is the VP of sales and marketing for Axiom Worldwide. He has over 20 years of domestic and international health industry experi- ence. Mr. Dixon may be contacted at:[email protected]. rue non-surgical spinal decompression (N-SSD) for patients with back pain due to disc pathology is, and should remain, the eminent domain of the chiropractic profession. As musculoskeletal experts, there is no other group in health care that is more qualifi ed than chiropractors to treat patients suffering from chronic low back pain. Therefore, it makes sense that the profession embraces and makes this non-inva- sive technology routinely available to the appropriate patients. In the September 2007 issue of Canadian Chiropractor the various non-surgical spi- nal decompression technologies were reviewed. However, since the publication of this article new clinical data in favour of non-surgical spinal decompression has been pub- lished by members of the medical community. This new data has been as much a cause for celebration as a cause for concern with chiropractors utilizing this technology. The celebration is obviously the continued validation of the effi cacy, and science, of the tech- nology in treating chronic back pain patients. However, the concern is, as medicine continues to investigate and publish its fi ndings on non-surgical, spinal decompression, what role will chiropractic have in treating chronic back pain patients with this technol- ogy? To alleviate this concern – and understand what medicine will contribute to this technology and, ultimately, to the chiropractic profession – it is important to understand how medicine has approached the question of N-SSD. THE HISTORY It is no secret that chiropractic often comes under attack, for its methods and practices, from the medical community. This has also been the case when chiropractors utilize non- surgical spinal decompression in their practice. This condemnation originates from the medical community’s criticism of the quality of the non-surgical decompression studies conducted prior to October 2005. In 2005, the Cochrane Collaboration published a report entitled, “Traction for low- back pain with or without sciatica (Review).” In this review, a search of all literature Continued on Page 44 24 • CANADIAN CHIROPRACTOR | APRIL 2008 www.canadianchiropractor.ca Gary Dixon feature
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor April 2008: Page 24
