The WHO’s Sources For Opinion On Spinal Manipulative Therapy (Part 15)

The Chiropractic Forward Podcast: Evidence-based Chiropractic Advocacy

CF 334: The WHO’s Sources For Opinion On Spinal Manipulative Therapy (Part 15) Today we’re going to talk about The WHO’s Sources For Opinion On Spinal Manipulative Therapy (Part 15)…..it’s the final part of the series. But first, here’s that sweet sweet bumper music

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OK, we are back and you have found the Chiropractic Forward Podcast where we are giving evidence-based chiropractic a little personality and making it profitable. We’re not the stuffy, elitist, pretentious kind of research. We’re research talk over a couple of beers. So grab you a bushel. I’m Dr. Jeff Williams and I’m your host for the Chiropractic Forward podcast. I’m so glad you’re spending your time with us learning together. Chiropractors – I’m hiring at my personal clinic. I need talent, ambition, smarts, personality, and easy to get along with associates. If this is you and Amarillo, TX is your speed, send me an email at [e-mail] If you haven’t yet I have a few things you should do.

• Go to Amazon and check our my book called The Remarkable Truth About Chiropractic: A Unique Journey Into The Research. It’s excellent resource for you and is categorized into sections so the information is easy to find and written in a way that is easy to understand for everyone. It’s on Amazon. That’s the Remarkable Truth About Chiropractic by Jeff Williams.
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You have found yourself smack dab in the middle of Episode #334 Now if you missed last week’s episode, we talked about Colo-Rectal Cancer Recognition & Less Gabapentin With Chiropractic. Make sure you don’t miss that info. Keep up with the class.

On the personal end of things…..

Up and down, peaks and valleys, getting hit and landing blows, riding the waves or gasping for air, whack-a-freaking-mole. Slow week this week and last. Two weeks ago and May overall, we killed it. Absolutely killed it. Now, I’m wondering if we should just close the doors and call it a good career. We tried. Lol.

Yes, that’s super dramatic.

No, we’re not closing up shop. Lol. But that’s how you get sometimes right? Damnit can’t it just be a set it and forget it thing? Well the answer is no. It cannot and will not. The competition is too great to rest solely on your reputation in the community. Yes, it helps but it’s not enough to stay where you want to be. It’s just not. We all feel important I’m sure but here’s the brutal truth. People start to forget us the minute we go silent. You have to keep that pedal to the metal with the marketing, being involved in the community, constant weekly touches in the community, and telling your current active patients how much you appreciate referrals. They don’t always know, ya know?

So, market market market. In separate news, I am re-engaging with the group I’ve mentioned in the past about purchasing 60% of the clinic, bringing in an associate or two, and having more time for voice-over work, real estate work, and medicolegal work in the chiropractic realm.

If my plans are solid and actually happen…..and I have a track record of making things happen……in 2 years, I’ll have more and more time to dedicate to podcast hosting and painting and sculpting and all of the aspects of life outside of the clinic that truly feed my soul. We’re working on it and so far, it’s looking good. It just takes time and I’ll keep you all updated as we go along. It may be something you want to consider as I go through it and come out the other side.

Item #1

The last paper in our series is called, “The effectiveness of manual therapy and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation compared to kinesiotherapy: a four-arm randomized controlled trial” by Zaworski et al and published in European Journal Of Physical Rehabilitative Medicine in April of 2021. Remember, the citations can be found at chiropracticforward.com under this episode.

Zaworski K, Latosiewicz R. The effectiveness of manual therapy and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation compared to kinesiotherapy: a four-arm randomized controlled trial. Eur J Phys Rehabil Med. 2021 Apr;57(2):280-287. doi: 10.23736/S1973-9087.21.06344-9. Epub 2021 Mar 2. PMID: 33650840.

Last reminder on this series. The WHO recommends spinal manipulative therapy at very low confidence. I’ve been doing this podcast every single week for over 7 years and the amount of research in favor of smt for everything but especially low back pain is honestly pretty staggering.

So, when I see the WHO recommend SMT, I’m like….well of course they do. And then I see ‘at very low confidence’ which is the same level they recommended ultrasound, well, then I got miffed. I got ‘pressed’ as the kids say these days. Hundo P. So I found all of the papers the WHO used to make the determination and we went through them one by one and this is the last one.

Why They Did It

The aim of the study was to determine whether the use of combined therapy consisting of manual therapy and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) is more effective than the use of manual therapy techniques, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation or traditional kinesiotherapy as single methods in the treatment of low back pain.

How They Did It

The setting was a Rehabilitation Department of Hospital in Parczew (Poland). The study was designed as four-arm randomized comparative controlled RCT and conducted on a group of 200 patients aged 27-55y. The patients were randomly divided into four 50-person groups: 1) group A – manual therapy; 2) B – proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation; 3) C – manual therapy and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation; and 4) group D – traditional kinesiotherapy and control group. Pain intensity was measured using VAS and Laitinen’s questionnaire. Functional disability was assessed using Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and Back Pain Functional Scale (BPFS).

What They Found

There was a statistically significant difference in pain reduction (VAS Scale) between Group C (4.8 points) and Group D (3.9 points). In all the groups there was a statistically significant reduction in a degree of disability as measured by the ODI. A level of functional capabilities increased significantly only in Group C (8.8 points) as compared to Group D (5.7 points).

Wrap It Up

All the evaluated methods caused pain reduction which lasted for at least 2 weeks after the end of treatment. The degree of disability as measured by ODI lowered evenly in all groups. Patients’ functional ability improved significantly in the group treated with combined manual therapy and proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation as compared to the group of traditional kinesiotherapy.

OK, so there’s yet another paper the WHO used that’s in favor of SMT. I’m going to try to do a very fast summary of what we’ve learned here, folks.

For the record, I started this series on December 14, 2023 and today is June 10, 2024.

Yes, we’ve been at it for a while now. So, what DID we learn now that we’re at the end of our efforts? For starters, they cherry picked some pretty crappy papers. One was a pilot study. Why would you place the recommendation of a modality in part on a pilot study? Not sure about that. Many of them were very small sample sizes.

More strikingly though were the ages of these papers? Again, we cover new and fresh papers all of the time and low back pain specifically has been covered and covered and covered again in the last 5 – 10 years and almost all papers have been in favor of SMT. So why on Earth is the WHO sourcing and using old papers with mostly small sample sizes? I’m talking about papers from 1978, 1985, 1986, 1992, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2012, 2012 (pilot study), 2013, 2013.

Yes there are some papers they used that were from 2020, 2019, 2017 or so. But I’d venture a guess that well over 60% of the papers they used were over 10-12 years old and some were as old as 35 years, 38 years, and up to 46 years old. What the holy hell? For real. Wrap your damn heads around that hot garbage. Please tell me there’s an agenda to keep chiropractors in their place without telling me there’s and agenda to keep chiropractors in their place. It’s ponderous.

The final score is:

• • In favor of SMT: 19
  • Undetermined: 5
  • Against: 4

So, you folks do what you will with the information. I don’t know that there’s anything that can be done. It’s the WHO out there doing WHO stuff but I’m telling your right now, them rating SMT at ‘very low confidence’ is incorrect in my opinion and I feel that our little experiment proves it beyond simply ‘my opinion’.

Keep fighting my friends. Lots of work left to do!

Alright, that’s it. Keep on keepin’ on. Keep changing our profession from your corner of the world.

The world needs evidence-based, patient-centered practitioners driving the bus. The profession needs us in the ACA and involved in leadership of state associations. So quit griping about the profession if you’re doing nothing to make it better. Get active, get involved, and make it happen. Let’s get to the message. Same as it is every week.

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The Message I want you to know with absolute certainty that when Chiropractic is at its best, you can’t beat the risk vs reward ratio because spinal pain is primarily a movement-related pain and typically responds better to movement-related treatment rather than chemical treatments like pills and shots. When compared to the traditional medical model, research and clinical experience show us patients can get good to excellent results for headaches, neck pain, back pain, and joint pain to name just a few. It’s safe and cost-effective can decrease surgeries & disability and we do it through conservative, non-surgical means with minimal hassle to the patient. And, if the patient treats preventatively after initial recovery, we can usually keep it that way while raising the overall level of health!

Key Point: At the end of the day, patients should have the guarantee of having the best treatment that offers the least harm. When it comes to non-complicated musculoskeletal complaints…. That’s Chiropractic!

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Connect We can’t wait to connect with you again next week. From the Chiropractic Forward Podcast flight deck, this is Dr. Jeff Williams saying upward, onward, and forward.

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About the Author & Host Dr. Jeff Williams – Fellow of the International Academy of Neuromusculoskeletal Medicine (FIANM) and Board Certified Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Professionals (DABFP) – Chiropractor in Amarillo, TX, Chiropractic Advocate, Author, Entrepreneur, Educator, Businessman, Marketer, and Healthcare Blogger & Vlogger

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