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Spinal Hygiene Instruction Improves Quality Of Life

The August 16, 2004 issue of the Journal of Vertebral Subluxation Research reports that people who participated in a spinal hygiene class showed an improvement in the quality of their life as measured by quality of life questionnaires.

 

 

In the study, 50 adults who were students at a chiropractic college enrolled in a Spinal Hygiene public health course. 63 adult students who had not taken the Spinal Hygiene class served as a control group.

 

 

The class taught proper stretching and exercise, improving posture, stress reduction, ergonomics, patient self-responsibility and appropriate professional spinal evaluation and care.

 

 

Two Quality of Life surveys were given at the beginning and end of the class as well as at the end of each week. The Global Well-Being Scale (GWBS) is a version of the Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Also used was the Rand SF 36 Health Survey. The survey tests were designed to measure such things as physical functioning, body pain, general health, vitality, and social, mental and emotional health.

 

 

With the Rand 36 test, comparing week 8 scores with week 1 scores show that "six of the eight scales demonstrate statistically significant improvement for the spinal hygiene group. None of the scales demonstrated statistically significant improvement for the control group."

 

 

The Global Well-Being Scale test showed score improvements for each of the weeks observed. "In nine of ten weeks the improvements noted were statistically significant."

 

 

Commentary: It's no surprise that when people are taught proper spinal hygiene the quality of their life improves. Patient education of proper spinal care allowed improvements in quality of life and health even in a chiropractic college where presumably the subjects were already under chiropractic care. The next time your chiropractor has a spinal health care class, consider going and taking your whole family.