Low back pain (LBP) that keeps coming back or sticks around can really impact your life. For those dealing with this, treatments like exercise, especially when combined with education, have proven helpful in stopping new episodes or lessening the pain’s severity. Chiropractors have long used a strategy called Maintenance Care (MC) to help prevent these issues from recurring or becoming chronic. This article explores how effective a Maintenance Care Program is in managing pain for people with recurrent or persistent LBP.
A recent study investigated the benefits of maintenance care. Individuals aged 18 to 65 who had non-specific LBP and responded positively to initial chiropractic treatment were selected for the research. After their first treatment phase, these individuals were divided into two groups randomly. One group received maintenance care, while the other received symptom-guided treatment, meaning they only got treatment when symptoms flared up. The study tracked the number of days with bothersome LBP over 52 weeks using weekly text messages.
The results showed that a maintenance care program led to a significant reduction in the number of days with bothersome low back pain compared to symptom-guided treatment. Over a year-long period, the group receiving maintenance care reported experiencing approximately 12.8 fewer days with bothersome LBP than the symptom-guided treatment group. However, it’s important to note that the maintenance care group received about 1.7 more treatments on average during this time. No serious negative effects were reported in either group.
In conclusion, for individuals with recurrent or persistent non-specific low back pain who find relief from initial chiropractic care, a maintenance care program appears to be a more effective approach than just treating symptoms as they arise. While it does involve more treatments overall, maintenance care can significantly reduce the total number of days spent suffering from bothersome low back pain over the course of a year. For these patients, maintenance care should be considered a valuable option for long-term prevention and management of their condition.
