Chiropractic for Low Back Pain (LBP)

Findings of recent research: Patients with acute mechanical low back pain enjoy significant improvement with chiropractic care, but little to no improvement with the usual care they receive from a family physician.

From Dynamic Chiropractic:

Published in the December 2010 edition of The Spine Journal, the study found that after 16 weeks of care, patients referred to medical doctors saw almost no improvement in their disability scores, were likely to still be taking pain drugs and saw no benefit with added physical therapy - and yet were unlikely to be referred to a doctor of chiropractic.

The study is "the first reported randomized controlled trial comparing full CPG [clinical practice guidelines]-based treatment, including spinal manipulative therapy administered by chiropractors, to family physician-directed UC [usual care] in the treatment of patients with AM-LBP (acute mechanical low back pain)." (Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines have been established for acute mechanical low back pain in many countries around the world, but sadly, most primary care medical doctors don't follow these guidelines.) Researchers found that "treatment including CSMT [chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy] is associated with significantly greater improvement in condition-specific functioning" than usual care provided by a family physician.

If you're looking for help with low back pain, or suffering from pain related to auto injuries, call us to see how we can help.

Is crash prevention black and white?

An interesting study has come out of the accident research center at Monash University regarding the relationship between vehicle color and crash frequency.

Before getting the answers... What do you think is the safest?

• Red
• White
• Silver
• Yellow
• Black

And what do you think is the most likely to be involved in a crash?

Black colored cars, according to the study, are 47% more likely to be involved in a collision compared to cars that are white, gold, or yellow during dawn or dusk hours. The researchers looked at data from more than 850,000 MVCs over a period of 20 years. Surprisingly, gray, silver, blue, and red were also crash prone colors. Even in daylight, black cars were 12% more likely to crash than white cars (the safest).

While visibility of your vehicle is a major player in causing crashes, it can't be denied that certain personality types (and drivers) gravitate toward certain car colors.  Have you ever seen an old granny driving a cherry red sports car?  How many black cars have tinted windows?

So one factor of crash prevention, might just be black and white.  At Manual Medicine & Rehabilitation Center, we understand crash factors, and put that understanding to work helping you.  If you've been in a recent auto crash, come visit our chiropractic clinic in SE Portland, or call to make an appointment.

What percentage of car crashes are rear end?

Ever wonder which from direction most car crashes happen. You might be surprised.


Adding it up, frontal or offset frontal vehicle crashes make up approximately 72% of all crashes. Not surprising, since such a large percentage are due to driver error. Only about 4% of car crashes are rear or offset rear in nature.