Objective: This pilot project investigates the effectiveness of the Toftness system of chiropractic adjusting on subjects with pain syndromes.
Methods: Patients were recruited from 13 doctors' offices. All subjects received Toftness chiropractic adjustments. The visual analog scale (VAS) and Oswestry low back pain questionnaire were used for all subjects before and after chiropractic adjustments.
Results: A total of 42 patients were recruited. Twenty-eight patients had acute or chronic back pain and 14 experienced other types of pain (eg, neck pain, knee pain, shoulder pain, etc). The average age of the patient population (18 male, 24 female) was 53 +/- 16 years. After 6 to 8 weeks of chiropractic adjustments, pain as analyzed using the visual analog scale was reduced significantly from 73.6 +/- 12.790 to 17.0 +/- 13.363 (P < .001). The Oswestry score decreased significantly from 69.3 +/- 18.525 to 12.4 +/- 10.504 (P < .001). There were no adverse treatment effects reported by the participating patients.
Conclusion: The Toftness system of chiropractic adjusting reduced low back and other pain syndromes in the subjects studied. It suggests that the Toftness system of chiropractic adjusting was safe and effective to use in low back pain and other pain-related conditions.