Excerpt from; Modern Manual Therapy: p. 444-445 Grieves G. Churchill Livingstone 1979.

Self-Limitation of LBP: “Dixon (1979) states 9 out of 10 cases of LBP are transient & recover in a short time. His studies reveal 44% were better in (2) weeks, 86% in (4) weeks and 93% at (2) months. Only 8% had pain persisting past (2) months. Their conclusion: most pain resolves spontaneously. Because of this many heterodox treatments have flourished. “If a manipulator continues to adjust the spine for about (8) weeks they may be nearly assured of a 90+% success rate”. And this success can be achieved by any other form of therapy as well as no therapy.

Nachemson alleges; “our scanty knowledge of the cause of LBP is mirrored by the many types of remedies…many forms of treatment have been shown to be no better than no treatment at all…or a non-specific treatment such as de-tuned shortwave”.

“Mackenzie states: if a patient becomes pain-free during a course of treatment it is impossible to determine the extent to which the treatment contributed to the relief. Many patients’ conditions were getting better anyway…many get better in spite of the therapy. Therefore success cannot be measured by the length of time to become pain-free in one episode but can only be judged by the reduction in future episodes. This is where self-care becomes so important. Up to 90% of patients presenting for care of LBP will have a recurrence. 62% report at least 3 episodes in the next 5 years”.

Comment: the MOST fascinating aspect of ‘old’ studies is that so little has changed (except perhaps for the worse). In chiropractic terms the “adjusting” skills were, at least according to the old-time DC camp, much better and more precise “back in the day”….but through the 1960’s-1980’s we were unable to stave off the epidemic of modern back pain or cure patients better than the then-standard interventions…and at no time have we been able to approach treating more than 15% of the population.