Chiropractic Treatment Helps People Avoid Back Surgery

In our Memphis office, we see plenty of patients who are dealing with back pain, and a few of these patients have been advised they might need surgery to recover. Thankfully, Dynamic Chiropractic has helped many people get relief without the need for any type of surgical procedure. The scientific research agrees with the results we see in our office. One research study published in the journal Spine found that consulting with a chiropractor as your first step in dealing with your back issues may literally keep you out of the operating room.

In this scientific study, medical professionals from Dartmouth reviewed data from 1,885 workers from the state of Washington who first saw either an orthopedic surgeon or a chiropractor for their back-related issues. They then looked at three years' worth of follow-up medical data to find out whether the individuals ended up having back surgery in an attempt to treat the problem.

What the authors observed was that 42.7% of the patients who first saw a surgeon for their back problems ended up with surgery in that 3-year time span, whereas only 1.5 percent of those who first consulted with a chiropractor had the same fate. The authors wrote:

"Even after controlling for injury severity and other measures, workers with an initial visit for the injury to a surgeon had almost nine times the odds of receiving lumbar spine surgery compared to those seeing primary care providers, whereas workers whose first visit was to a chiropractor had significantly lower odds of surgery."

These are remarkable results. Visiting a chiropractor drastically decreases your odds of having back surgery, plus the chiropractic patients in this scientific study "had lower odds of chronic work disability" and they also had fewer expensive MRI tests.

Let's also consider this important detail: this study was carried out by orthopedic surgeons from Dartmouth College, and published in the world's most distinguished medical publication on spinal injuries.

Why You Should Avoid Surgery

Any surgical procedure has risks, but a major problem associated with spine surgery is that there's a very high rate of failure. In an important analysis in the European Spine Journal, researchers wrote:

"Failed back surgery is a problem that has become sufficiently widespread to even warrant its own special conferences, with recent reviews reporting failure rates ranging from 5 to 50%."

The authors of this same study concluded:

"It is extremely difficult to identify unequivocal predictor factors that can be used to accurately predict the outcome of surgery."

As a chiropractor, Dynamic Chiropractic believes that surgery should be the absolute last resort for treating back pain. Chiropractic care works to restore your spine to its normal function--without the need of high-risk surgery or drugs--and many research studies have established the effectiveness of chiropractic for back pain.

If you live in Memphis and you need relief for your back pain, give our practice a call today at (901) 757-8311 for a consultation or an appointment. We'll help get you back on the road to a pain-free life!

Studies

• Keeney BJ, Fulton-Kehoe D, Turner JA, Wickizer TM, Chan KC, Franklin GM. Early predictors of lumbar spine surgery after occupational back injury: results from a prospective study of workers in Washington State. Spine 2013;38(11):953-964.
• Mannion AF, Elfering A. Predictors of surgical outcome and their assessment. European Spine Journal 2006;15(Suppl 1):S93-S108.