The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
As health care costs continue to soar in Canada, many government agencies are searching for ways to spend their health care dollars more efficiently. Recently, the cost-cutting measures have led these agencies to look at avenues of treatment different from the traditional model of medicine that produce favourable, and more cost effective, results. At the end of September, the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) released the results from the first years of an evaluative program known as the Acute Low Back Pain Program of Care. The evaluation, which looked at the outcomes for over 4,000 workers who had suffered low back injuries while at work, found that the injured workers who sought chiropractic treatment were treated sooner, returned to work more quickly, and recovered more fully than those treated by other health care providers for the same type of injury. Approximately half the workers in the study sought treatment from chiropractors. Among the specific report findings were: Patients were able to access chiropractic care ten days earlier than other health care providers. The median number of work days lost among those treated by chiropractors was nine days whereas among those treated by other providers was 20. Eighty-eight per cent of those patients treated by chiropractors recovered fully from their injuries while only 75 per cent of other patients achieved a full recovery. Eleven per cent of those patients treated by chiropractors needed treatment beyond 12 weeks whereas 22 per cent of other patients needed treatment beyond 12 weeks. This Ontario WSIB report clearly shows the success of chiropractic care in reducing the burden of workplace back injuries on workers and their employers. It is estimated that over 80 per cent of the general population will suffer from low back pain at some point during their lifetime, be it from a work injury or otherwise. Government agencies continue to evaluate trends in injury recovery and health care so to maximize the efficiency of the dollars allotted for health care costs and support the best possible treatment methods for the people of Canada. (Some information and statistics provided by The CCA Report November 2004.)
