Avoiding the Surgeon's Knife with Chiropractic

In our Henderson, NV office, we see plenty of people who are struggling with back pain, and a few of these patients have been informed they might need surgery to recover. Fortunately, Dr. Russell and Dr. Janda has helped many people get relief without the need for any type of surgery. The scientific research confirms the results we see in our practice. One study published in the journal Spine found that seeing a chiropractor as your first move in overcoming with your back problems may actually 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 an orthopedic surgeon or a chiropractor for their low back issues. They then examined three years' worth of follow-up medical records to ascertain whether the subjects ended up having back surgery in an attempt to treat the issue.

What the authors determined was that about 43% of the people who first consulted with a surgeon for their back issues ended up with surgery in that 3-year time frame, whereas only 1.5% of those who first saw 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 outcomes. Seeing a chiropractor considerably reduces your odds of having back surgery, plus the chiropractic patients in this study "had lower odds of chronic work disability" and they also had fewer expensive MRI tests.

Let's also keep in mind this important point: this study was performed by orthopedic surgeons from Dartmouth College, and printed in the world's most prestigious medical journal on spinal injuries.

The Risks of Surgery

Any surgery has risks, but a major downside associated with 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. Russell and Dr. Janda is convinced 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 high-risk surgery or drugs--and many studies have established the usefulness of chiropractic for back pain.

If you live in Henderson, NV and you need relief for your back pain, give our office a call today at (702) 990-2225 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.