ArticleBMC musculoskeletal disorders2024
Association between spinal manipulative therapy and lumbar spine reoperation after discectomy: a retrospective cohort study.
Article in BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- Chiropractic's role in strengthening rehabilitation in health systems.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2026Article
- Efficacy of spinal manipulative therapy in older adults with chronic spinal conditions: an updated systematic review.The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association · 2026Article
- A description of serious adverse events following spinal manipulative therapy for adults with history of spine surgery: a single institution retrospective chart review.The Journal of manual & manipulative therapy · 2025Article
- Association Between Spinal Manipulative Therapy for Low Back Pain With or Without Sciatica and Opioid Use Disorder: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Health science reports · 2025Article
- With big data comes big responsibility: Strategies for utilizing aggregated, standardized, de-identified electronic health record data for research.Clinical and translational science · 2025Article
- Failed Back Surgery Syndrome Patients Undergoing Flexion Distraction Chiropractic Treatment: A Case Series.Journal of chiropractic medicine · 2025Article
- Chiropractic and Spinal Manipulation: A Review of Research Trends, Evidence Gaps, and Guideline Recommendations.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPatients who undergo lumbar discectomy may experience ongoing lumbosacral radiculopathy (LSR) and seek spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) to manage these symptoms. We hypothesized that adults receiving SMT for LSR at least one year following lumbar discectomy would be less likely to undergo lumbar spine reoperation compared to matched controls not receiving SMT, over two years' follow-up.
methodsWe searched a United States network of health records (TriNetX, Inc.) for adults aged ≥ 18 years with LSR and lumbar discectomy ≥ 1 year previous, without lumbar fusion or instrumentation, from 2003 to 2023. We divided patients into two cohorts: (1) chiropractic SMT, and (2) usual care without chiropractic SMT. We used propensity matching to adjust for confounding variables associated with lumbar spine reoperation (e.g., age, body mass index, nicotine dependence), calculated risk ratios (RR), with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), and explored cumulative incidence of reoperation and the number of SMT follow-up visits.
resultsFollowing propensity matching there were 378 patients per cohort (mean age 61 years). Lumbar spine reoperation was less frequent in the SMT cohort compared to the usual care cohort (SMT: 7%; usual care: 13%), yielding an RR (95% CIs) of 0.55 (0.35-0.85; P = 0.0062). In the SMT cohort, 72% of patients had ≥ 1 follow-up SMT visit (median = 6).
conclusionsThis study found that adults experiencing LSR at least one year after lumbar discectomy who received SMT were less likely to undergo lumbar spine reoperation compared to matched controls not receiving SMT. While these findings hold promise for clinical implications, they should be corroborated by a prospective study including measures of pain, disability, and safety to confirm their relevance. We cannot exclude the possibility that our results stem from a generalized effect of engaging with a non-surgical clinician, a factor that may extend to related contexts such as physical therapy or acupuncture. REGISTRATION: Open Science Framework ( https://osf.io/vgrwz ).
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.