Back Pain

Quicker Relief From Low Back Pain

When you hear the word chiropractic do you think of care for spinal pain? You’d be surprised to learn that the world’s first chiropractic patient (1895) was saved from 17 years of deafness and the world’s second chiropractic patient was relieved of a heart condition. Thousands soon praised chiropractic for saving them from headaches, colds, allergies, asthma, sciatica, arthritis, seizures, ear infections, stomach trouble, gynecological problems and many other conditions in addition to back pain.

SPINAL HEALTH CAN HELP YOU IN MANY WAYS

Your chiropractor will relieve you of a silent killer lurking in your body, the vertebral subluxation complex, which is a severe abnormality that interferes with your body’s proper function. Once your chiropractor relieves you of the vertebral subluxation complex your body will function better

LOW BACK PAIN

About 85 percent of the population will experience disabling low back pain at least once during their lives! That’s almost all of us. The problem is so bad that at any one time, according to one researcher, 6.8% of the U.S. 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 U.S. is over $50 billion a year. Spinal health is important for proper internal organ function.

DO MEDICAL TREATMENTS AND SURGERY HELP?

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. This approach has not been found very helpful alone however. 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 according to some studies, most spinal surgery for acute lower back problems should be rarely performed.4 Many people 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. In some cases the surgery makes no difference whatsoever and in some cases it does give long-term relief.

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 make your spine and its nerves, discs and muscles healthier, stronger and more stable by correcting your vertebral subluxations.

Anyone suffering from a back problem should see a chiropractor to make sure there is no spinal nerve stress and to have it removed or corrected if it is found. This may make the difference between a life of ease, health and comfort or a life of pain, disease and disability.

WHAT DO MAJOR GOVERNMENT STUDIES REVEAL?

Low back pain sufferers have received very good news lately. Major government studies from the U.S. and Canada have reaffirmed what chiropractic patients have been telling their friends with back pain for years: “Why don’t you see my chiropractor? You’ll probably get better much faster than from drugs or surgery-and it’s safer too.”

WHAT DID THE U.S, GOVERNMENT DISCOVER?

In 1994, the federal government sent shockwaves throughout the health care system when a definitive public pronouncement established chiropractic as one of the preferred and most effective methods of care for acute adult low back pain.

A panel of medical experts spent 2 1/2 years reviewing nearly 4,000 studies and reported that expensive tests (MRI, CAT scans) and therapies typically used to diagnose and treat acute lower back pain (ice, heat, massage, diathermy) are largely useless when used alone. Instead the experts recommended the non-drug chiropractic approach: “The therapeutic objectives of manipulation include symptomatic relief and functional improvement.”

Dr. Gerard W. Clum, president of Life Chiropractic College-West, said: “The Guideline…clearly establishes spinal manipulation as the only recommended intervention whose benefit includes symptomatic relief as well as functional improvement.”

The panel revealed that extended bed rest (more than four days) was harmful, and that muscle relaxants and surgery can be unnecessary and, in some cases, harmful. For example, surgery was found helpful in 1 in 100 eases of low back problems and in some people it caused more problems.

WHAT CANADIAN RESEARCHERS FOUND

The Manga Report was commissioned by the government of Ontario in Canada. Leading economists found that chiropractic care for patients with low back pain is superior to medical care in terms of safety, scientific evidence of effectiveness, cost and patient satisfaction.

“The higher satisfaction levels expressed by patients of chiropractors.. offers an overwhelming case in favor of much greater use of chiropractic services in the management of low-back pain.

“There should be a shift in policy to encourage and prefer chiropractic services for most patients with low-back pain.. a very good case can be made for making chiropractors the gate keepers for management of low-back pain in the workers’ compensation system.”

THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES…

“Scientific studies that have been done by medical physicians comparing chiropractic care with medical care and physical therapy non-surgical care of the back and neck show that doctors of chiropractic relieve chronic and severe pain, both immediate and long term, in one half the time it takes medical physicians not trained in chiropractic procedures. Controlled empirical studies can and have been conducted. There are now in excess of 60 scientific studies which demonstrate the value of manipulation. ..manipulation is a most effective and cost-effective form of treatment for dysfunctional problems in the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spines.”

“For patients with acute low back symptoms without radiculopathy, the scientific evidence suggests spinal manipulation is effective in reducing pain and perhaps speeding recovery within the first month of symptoms.”

CHIROPRACTIC IS BETTER FOR YOU…

Studies have shown chiropractic works better, is safer and less costly than standard medicine for lower back complaints.

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