• Rose KA
• Kizhakkeveettil A
• Kadar GE
• Losack M

• Counseling
• Manipulation, Spinal
• Open Access Document
• Patient Education as Topic
• Smoking Cessation

Objective: The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility of a randomized clinical trial on the effectiveness of combining spinal manipulation (SM) with standard tobacco cessation counseling.

Methods: A randomized clinical trial was conducted. Participants in the intervention group received 2 months of counseling plus SM delivered by doctors of chiropractic, whereas control group participants received counseling alone. Primary outcome measures were smoking decreases and 7-day smoking abstinence as measured by a tobacco diary and urinary cotinine. Descriptive statistics were calculated.

Results: Recruitment proved to be difficult because of reluctance of participants to commit to a 2-month course of care. Ten participants completed this pilot study. Counseling plus SM group participants had greater improvement in the number of cigarettes smoked and urinary cotinine. Three participants achieved at least 7 days of tobacco abstinence, all in the counseling plus SM group.

Conclusions: In this feasibility study, doctors of chiropractic appeared to be capable of conducting effective smoking cessation counseling. The preliminary information indicated that there may be some benefit for including chiropractic care in addition to counseling. Researchers conducting future studies that are adequately powered should consider using multiple locations and incentives adequate to recruit participants.

Author eywords: Smoking Cessation, Manipulation; Spinal, Chiropractic

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