Low Back Pain

Low back pain is very common.  About 85 percent of the population will experience disabling low back pain at least during their lives!  That's almost all of us.  The problem is so bad that, according to one researcher, at any given time 6.8% of the US adult population is suffering from an episode of back pain lasting more than two weeks.  That's a lot of bad backs.  The estimated cost of this problem in the US is over $50 billion a year.

Medical Treatments and Surgery

The standard medical approach to back pain varies depending on the severity of the condition. Muscle relaxers, painkillers, rest and physical therapy such as traction, diathermy, ultrasound, hot packs and cold packs are sometimes used. These approaches are often found wanting however. Even bed rest has been found ineffective for a serious form of back and leg pain called sciatica. 

If the problem doesn’t improve or worsens then surgery may be performed.

The medical approach is at times necessary even back surgery has a place. But research is revealing that spinal surgery for acute lower back problems should rarely be performed. Many of those who have had back surgery report a recurrence of their symptoms within a year or two of the operation and may return to the operating table. Spinal surgery is currently a very controversial (and costly) approach to low back pain. Over time, most patients with disc herniations recover with or without surgery, so that outcomes after five years are similar when surgical and non-surgical approaches are compared…In the end, the decision to operate on a patient with a lumbar disc herniation usually depends on patient preference rather than necessity.

The Chiropractic Approach

Chiropractors have helped millions of people with low back problems, often saving them from pain, disability, drugs and surgery. The chiropractor’s purpose is to gently and painlessly rebalance and realign your spine to relieve pressure on your nerves, discs, and muscles. Chiropractors have a special term for an area of your spine that is not properly aligned and is causing nerve stress: a vertebral subluxation. Anyone suffering from a back problem should see a chiropractor to have their spine checked for vertebral subluxations. If present, the chiropractor will gently and painlessly correct the subluxation and release stress and spinal nerves, meninges, discs and vertebrae. 

If a subluzation exists in your body it must be corrected. This could make the difference between a life of ease, health and comfort or a life of disease, disability and pain. 

Major government studies from the US, UK, Canada, and New Zealand, have reaffirmed what chiropractic patients have been telling their friends with back pain for years: Why don’t you see my chiropractor? You’ll get better much faster than from drugs or surgery and it’s safer too. For example: On the evidence, particularly most scientifically valid clinical studies, spinal manipulation applied by chiropractors is shown to be more effective than alternative treatments for low back pain. The commission has found it established beyond any reasonable degree of doubt that chiropractors have a more thorough training in spinal mechanics and spinal manual therapy than any other health professional.

There is, therefore, economic support for the use of chiropractic in low back pain…

The benefit of chiropractic treatment became more evident throughout the follow-up period… Chiropractic was particularly effective in those with fairly intractable pain-that is , those with a history of severe pain…The percentage of chiropractic patients who were very satisfied with the care they received for low back pain was triple that for patients of family physicians. 

Why are the results so overwhelmlingly in favor of chiropractic? Because painkillers, muscle relaxers, valium, braces, physical therapy, and surgery are not designed to correct vertebral subluxations. Chiropractic is! 

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