Low back pain (LBP) is the second most common cause of disability in the United States. The total cost associated with back pain is between $100-200 billion/year. 2/3s of this is due to decreased wages and productivity. More than 80% of the population will have an episode of LBP at some point in their lifetime. The good news is that 95% recover within two to three months of onset. However, some never recover which leads to chronic LBP (pain lasting more than 3 months). 20-44% will have a recurrence of LBP within one year and chances of lifetime recurrences is up to 85%! What this means is that most of us have, have had, or will have LBP, and we’ll get it again!
What to do about back pain?
Chiropractic adjustments have traditionally fared very well when compared with other non-surgical methods like physical therapy, acupuncture, and massage therapy. Chiropractic care can also reduce the chance of having surgery.
A 2013 study was designed to determine whether or not we could predict those who would require low back surgery. Back injuries are the most common occupational injury. Few studies have investigated what, if any, early predictors of future spine surgery after work-related injury exist. This study reviewed cases of 1,885 Washington state workers, of which 174 or 9.2% had low back surgery within three years. The initial predictors of surgery included high disability scores on questionnaires, greater injury severity, and seeing a surgeon as the first provider after the injury. Reduced odds of having surgery included: 1) <35 years old; 2) females; 3) Hispanics; and 4) those who FIRST saw a chiropractor. Approximately 43% of workers who first saw a surgeon had surgery compared with ONLY 1.5% of those who first saw a chiropractor! WOW!!!
Chiropractor vs. Surgeon
This study supports that a low back injured worker first sees a chiropractor vs. a surgeon, the likelihood of needing surgery in the three years after the injury would be reduced significantly. In fact, the strongest predictor of whether an injured worker would undergo surgery was found to be related to who they saw first after the injury: a surgeon or a chiropractor.
If this isn’t enough evidence, another study (University of British Columbia) looked at the safety of spine surgery. It reported that (taken from a group of 942 LBP surgical patients): 1) 87% had at least one documented complication; 2) 39% of the 87% had to stay longer in the hospital as a result; 3) 10.5% had a complication during the surgery; 4) 73.5% had a post-surgical complication that included: 8% delirium, 7% pneumonia, 5% nerve pain, 4.5% had difficulty swallowing, 3% nerve deterioration, 13.5% wound complication; and 5) 14 people died as a surgical complication. Another study showed lower annual healthcare costs for those receiving chiropractic vs. those who did not.
Conclusion
The “take-home” message is clear: TRY CHIROPRACTIC FIRST!!! When searching for the best chiropractor in North Texas, we hope that you will consider contacting our office.
