Do chiropractors overtreat their patients in an effort to promote dependence and turn patients into “chiropractic junkies?
TREATMENT GUIDELINES What constitutes appropriate, inappropriate, necessary, and unnecessary treatment are issues that confound and confuse practitioners of all methods of healing. In the absence of randomized prospective clinical trials we are left with personal preference and local custom to make decisions regarding patient care. Unfortunately, when it comes to valid scientific data, an article in the British Medical Journal states that only about 15% of all medical interventions are supported by solid scientific evidence, and many have never been investigated at all (12). Such is not the case with spinal manipulation for the treatment of low back pain. At least 37 randomized controlled trials exist for the treatment of low back pain by spinal manipulation (3), and four randomized trials exist for the treatment of neck pain by spinal manipulation (13-16). Not coincidentally, neck and back pain patients make up almost 90% of all chiropractic patients (11). Although chiropractic manipu
