Chiropractic Helps People Avoid Back Surgery

In our Henderson, NV practice, we see a large number of people who are struggling with back pain, and some of these people have been informed they might need surgery to recover. Thankfully, Dr. Russell and Dr. Janda has helped many people get relief without the need for any type of surgery. The science agrees with the success we see in our practice. One medical study published in the academic journal Spine found that seeing a chiropractor as your first move in overcoming with your back pain may literally keep you out of the operating room.

In this research study, medical researchers 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 used three years' worth of follow-up medical records to find out whether the patients wound up having back surgery in an effort to treat the problem.

What the authors determined was that about 43% of the individuals 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 results. Consulting with a chiropractor significantly decreases 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 take into account this important detail: this study was carried out by orthopedic surgeons from Dartmouth College, and printed in the world's most prestigious medical journal on spinal injuries.

Why You Should Avoid Surgery

Any surgery has risks, but a major downside related to 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, Dr. Russell and Dr. Janda 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 high-risk surgery or drugs--and many scientific studies have demonstrated the efficacy 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.