Chiropractors are always batting back the rumblings of the allopathic medicine junkies and the best way must be to use good research. Here's one of our favorates: the UK BEAM Trial, published in British Medical Journal online (19 November 2004).

The Trial was funded by the Medical Research Council and the NHS Health Technology Assessment Programme. It was prompted by a previous trial of chiropractic published by the MRC in the early 1990’s [the great Meade trial]. The Meade trial showed that chiropractic treatment was more effective than hospital management for chronic back pain.

Two main questions arose from the Meade study:
1. Is it chiropractic treatment, or is it treatment within a private practice setting, that caused the difference? (the chiropractors were all in private practice).
2. Is there something particularly effective about chiropractic, or could any suitably trained professional achieve the same benefits using a similar approach?

Before the BEAM Trial, the professional bodies of chiropractic, osteopathy and physiotherapy formulated an agreed package of care that uses spinal manipulation and BEAM compared this package of care in private practices and in NHS settings, with best GP care or exercises to see if private practice caused the difference. It demonstrated that spinal manipulation, as practised by chiropractors, is a cost effective treatment for back pain and compares favourably with GP ‘best practice’.