CHIROPRACTIC TREATMENT OF CHRONIC WHIPLASH INJURIES

Forty-three per cent of patients will suffer long-term symptoms follow ing 'whiplash' injury, for which no conventional treatment has proven to be effective. A retrospective study was undertaken to determine the effects of chiropractic in a group of 28 patients who had been referr ed with chronic 'whiplash' syndrome. The severity of patients' symptom s was assessed before and after treatment using the Gargan and Bannist er (1990) classification. Twenty-six (93 per cent) patients improved f ollowing chiropractic treatment (U=34, P<0.001). The encouraging resul ts from this retrospective study merit the instigation of a prospectiv e randomized controlled trial to compare conventional with chiropracti c treatment in chronic 'whiplash' injury. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.