Chiropractic management of primary dysmenorrhea

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the efficacy of chiropractic treatment in the management of primary dysmenorrhea. The sample consisted of 30 patients who were randomly assigned to 2 groups, the control and experimental. This single blind study consisted of 16 visits, twice a week for the first 4 weeks and thereafter once a week for the next 8 weeks. During a menstrual cycle, prior to commencement of treatment, the patients were required to complete a Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire on the last day of dysmenorrhea and a Numerical Pain Rating Scale 101 on each day of experienced menstrual pain. These questionnaires were completed at home. Treatment for the experimental group consisted of soft tissue massage of the lumbar and thoraco-lumbar paravertebral. musculature combined with spinal manipulative therapy of the areas of fixation in the' lumbar and sacra-iliac regions. The control group received purely soft tissue massage of the lumbar and thoraco-lumbar paravertebral musculature. The areas of fixation were determined by motion palpation, joint challenge and tenderness to spinal palpation. There was no follow-upvisit conducted in this study. An analysis of the data revealed a statistically signiflcant improvement in the experimental group in terms of the Short Form McGill Pain Questionnaire (p=< 0,001) as well as for the control group (p=< 0,01), whilst in terms of the Numerical Pain Rating Scale 101 the experimental group showed an improvement (p=< 0,05) but the control group failed to show a significant change (p= 0,068).