Chiropractic Care Is a Natural Alternative to Back Surgery

In our Stacy chiropractic clinic, we see a lot of patients who are dealing with back pain, and some of these people have been advised they might need surgery to recover. Fortunately, Dr. Ulvin has helped many people get pain relief without the need for any type of surgical treatment. The scientific literature confirms the results we see in our office. One medical 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 off of the operating table.

In this study, medical experts from Dartmouth analyzed data from about 1,900 workers from Washington state who first saw either a surgeon or a chiropractor for their back-related issues. They then looked at three years' worth of follow-up medical information to find out whether the subjects ended up having back surgery in an attempt to correct the issue.

What the authors discovered was that 42.7% of the individuals who first consulted with a surgeon for their back issues ended up having a surgical procedure 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 impressive findings. Seeing 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 keep in mind this important detail: this study was carried out by orthopedic surgeons from Dartmouth College, and printed in the world's most distinguished medical publication on spinal injuries.

The Problems with Surgery

Any surgical procedure has risks, but a major downside related to spine surgery is that there's a very high rate of failure. In an important review 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 experts in 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, Dr. Ulvin believes that surgery should be the absolute last choice for treating back pain. Chiropractic works to restore your spine to its normal function--without the need of risky surgery or drugs--and many scientific studies have documented the effectiveness of chiropractic for back pain.

If you live in Stacy and you need care for your back pain, give our practice a call today at (651) 462-3243 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.