Chi­ro­prac­tic care not only does an effec­tive job of treat­ing low back con­di­tions, it saves money, accord­ing to a large study done by Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Tennessee.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield tracked the health expen­di­tures of 85,000 ben­e­fi­cia­ries.  The health plan allowed patients equal access to med­ical doc­tors and doc­tors of chiropractic.

For those patients with low back pain who chose to see a chi­ro­prac­tor first, the total costs incurred by BC/BS aver­aged 40% less as com­pared to those patients who first saw a med­ical doc­tor.  Over­all, chi­ro­prac­tors saved the plan $ 2.3 mil­lion over two years.  Not to men­tion that patients returned to work and other activ­ity sooner, used fewer med­ica­tions, and avoided some surgeries.

The con­clu­sion?

For insur­ance com­pa­nies: Don’t restrict access to chi­ro­prac­tic care.  It will cost more in the long run.

For indi­vid­u­als: See your chi­ro­prac­tor for back pain first.