Learning Library Blog

A past study by the American Chiropractic Association (ACA) finds that low back pain care initiated with a doctor of chiropractic (DC) saves 40 percent on health care costs.  The study, featuring data from 85,000 Blue Cross Blue Shield beneficiaries, concludes that insurance companies that restrict access to chiropractors for low back pain treatment may inadvertently pay more for care than they would if they removed such restrictions. Low back pain is a significant public health problem. Up to 85 percent of Americans have back pain at some point in their lives. In addition to its negative effects on employee productivity, back pain treatment accounts for about $50 billion annually in health care costs- making it one of the top 10 most costly conditions treated in the United States. The study looked at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee’s intermediate and large group fully insured population over a two-year span. The insured study population had open access to MD’s and DC’s through self-referral, and there were no limits applied to the number of MD/DC visits allowed and no differences in co-pays. Results show that paid costs for episodes of care initiated by a DC were almost 40 percent less. After risk-adjusting each patient’s costs, researchers still found significant savings in the chiropractic group. They estimated that allowing DC initiated episodes of care would have led to annual cost savings of $2.3 million for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee. “As doctors of chiropractic, we know firsthand that our care often helps patients avoid or reduce more costly interventions such as drugs and surgery. This study supports what we see in our practices every day,” said former ACA president Rick McMichael, DC. “It also demonstrates the value of chiropractic care at a critical time, when our nation is attempting to reform its health care system and contain runaway costs.”

Posture ranks right up at the top of the list when you are talking about good health. It is as important as eating right, exercising, getting proper rest, and voiding potentially harmful substances like alcohol, drugs, and tobacco. Good posture is a way of doing things with more energy, less stress and fatigue. Without good posture, you cannot really be physically fit. without good posture, you can actually damage your spine every time you exercise. To illustrate this, think about carrying a briefcase. If you had to carry a briefcase with our arms outstretched in front of you, it would not take long before the muscles of your shoulders would be completely exhausted. This is because carrying the briefcase far away from your center of balance places unique stress in your shoulder muscles. If you held the same briefcase down at your side, your muscles would not fatigue so quickly because the briefcase is closer to your center of balance and therefore, the weight is supported by the bones of the skeleton rather than the muscles. Correcting bad posture and the physical problems that result can be accomplished in two ways. The first is by eliminating as much “bad” stress from your body as possible. Bad stress includes all the factors, habits, or stressors that cause your body to deviates from your structural center. Bad stress can result from a poorly adjusted chair at school, an improperly adjusted backpack, or even carrying too much weight around in a heavy backpack. The second is by applying “good” stress on the body in an effort to move your posture back toward your center of balance. This is accomplished through a series of exercises, stretches, adjustments, and changes to your physical environment all designed to help correct your posture. Getting your body back to its center of balance by improving your posture is critically important to improving how you feel. Remember to consult with a specialist before undertaking any major shifts in stress application.