Retrospective review of physical therapy and chiropractic treatment in patients with lumbar disc herniation

This study was planned to retrospectively examine and evaluate the effectiveness of combined physical therapy and chiropractic treatment on pain and quality of daily life in patients with lumbar disc herniation. In our study, the files of 400 patients who applied to the Paintherapy Istanbul Physical Therapy Center clinic between January and December 2022 were examined and the data of 105 patients who met the inclusion criteria were used in the study. The cases were randomly selected as the control group given chiropractic + physical therapy + exercise (n = 35), physical therapy + exercise (n = 35) and home exercise program (n = 35). The files of 105 patients who completed the Visual Analogue Scale and Oswestry Disability Index evaluations before and after the treatment were scanned. The files of the patients who were given only home exercise program were scanned as the control group. In order to ensure homogeneity of the treatment groups, the files of the patients whose treatment protocol was performed as a total of 12 sessions 3 times a week were selected. In the files scanned in the study, the mean age of 105 patients was 42.1±10.3 years, the gender distribution was 68 (64.8 percent) men and 37 (35.2 percent) women. It was observed that the physiotherapy + chiropractic + exercise combined treatment group was more effective on the patient's pain than the other physiotherapy + exercise and home exercise group. Post-treatment VAS pain scale measurements of the patients differed significantly according to the group (p<0.05). Oswestry scores of patients treated with combined therapy (Physical therapy + chiropractic + exercise) were higher than the other groups. The measurements of the patients after oswestry differ significantly according to the group (p=0.001<0.05).In conclusion, it has been seen that the combined use of chiropractic treatment and physical therapy together with exercise in the treatment of patients with lumbar disc herniation is much more beneficial in reducing the patient's pain and increasing the functionality of daily life.