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Do you or someone you know suffer from chronic or recurrent low back pain? You are not alone! Low back pain is an epidemic condition in our society. 80% of the adult US population will experience disabling low back pain at some time in their lives.1 Low back pain is second only to the common cold as a reason for visiting a family doctor, and second only to childbirth as the reason for admission to a hopital.2 At any given time nearly 6 million Americans are bed ridden due to back pain3 costing our society almost $50 billion per year in lost work, medical care and compensation payments.4
The medical approach to diagnosing back problems includes many high tech procedures such as x-ray, MRI, Bone Scan, CAT (CT) Scan, Discography, etc. however, the typical treatment is the same as it has been for years. Those who suffer from back problems are recommended drugs (side effects), physical therapy (largely ineffective), surgery (dangerous, with a large failure rate), bed rest (ineffective and potentially harmful), and "learning to live with it".5
Back pain can have a number of causes including common mechanical dysfunction due to improper vertebral alignment or more serious but less common conditions such as infection, tumor or metabolic problems. Considering these causes every sufferer needs to have their spine professionally evaluated to ensure that his/her spine is free from nerve stress.
Your doctor of chiropractic is uniquely qualified to diagnose and treat low back and many other conditions. Only osteopathic physicians have an extensive training in manual adjusting like that of a doctor of chiropratic. A 1999 survey of osteopathic doctors however, found that nearly 70% of them do not feel confident in their adjusting skills due to infrequency of use of the procedure. This leaves the chiropractor as the provider of choice for manual spinal adjusting.
Many people have found chiropractic to be a safe, effective, low cost alternative for back leg and disk pain. Researchers admit, “conventional medical treatment for low back pain has failed,”6 and “mechanical therapy (the chiropractic adjustment) is the most rational approach.”7 Numerous studies both here and abroad have found chiropractic to be a safe and effective approach.
A March 2004 study in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics found that chiropractic care is more effective than medical care at treating chronic low-back pain in patients' first year of symptoms. And a study published in the July 15, 2003, edition of the medical journal Spine found that manual manipulation provides better short-term relief of chronic spinal pain than does a variety of medications.
How can the results be so overwhelmingly in favor of chiropractic over medical care for low back problems? Because painkillers, muscle relaxers, physical therapy, braces and surgery are not correct the stress on spinal nerves due to postural and vertebral misalignment and its far reaching potential effects.
To find out if Chiropractic could help your back pain please contact our office for a consultation. If you have a specific question not covered here or elsewhere on this site please drop us an email and we will be happy to answer your questions. Please allow upto 48 hours for a response, possibly a bit longer if it is a weekend or holiday.
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References:
1. RA Deyo, "Description epidemiology of lower-back pain and its related medical care in the United States", Spine 12, 3 (1987):264-268
2. Consumer Reports, June 1994
3. RA Deyo, "Description epidemiology..." ibid.
4. R Bachrach. "Low back pain," Let's Live (June 1991): 80.
5. G Waddell, "A new clinical model for the treatment of low back pain," Spine 12, 7 (1987); New England Journal of Medicine 325(Oct. 3, 1991):1002-1007.
6. G Waddell, "A new clinical......" ibid.
7. V Mooney, "Where is the pain coming from?" Spine 12, 8:(1987) 754-759.
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