Research is proving a new treatment for back pain. This treatment for back pain has over 30 scientific studies and is published in Medical Journals. It has led to the conclusion that the average patient receiving this treatment is better off than 54-85% of the patients receiving other common and accepted back pain treatments.
Additionally, fourteen of these studies showed that this treatment that we will refer to later costs less and was up to twice as effective as most common medical treatment. Seventeen of the studies showed a decrease in disability at work from chiropractic care and less back pain symptoms. Unfortunately, many of these studies were done in the eighties! I am referring to chiropractic care. So why isn’t this treatment plastered all over the front pages and headlining the nightly news on a regular basis? How could something so great and proven to be this effective be kept out of the spotlight for so long?
These questions will all be answered. But first, to really understand what’s going on, we have to look at some real facts about back pain. Here are some staggering low back pain statistics: 1) 80-90% of all adults will suffer from LBP at some point in their life. 2) LBP is the leading cause of disability in people under 45 years of age. 3) LBP is the second leading cause of visits to doctors’ offices. 4) LBP is the third leading reason for hospital admissions. 5) Annual costs of back pain in the U.S. range from $20-$75 billion, and as much as $100 billion worldwide. 6) According to Met Life Insurance statistics, the average back treated medically without surgery costs $7,210, and the average back treated surgically costs $13,990, and 7) Statistics indicate that 15-20% of the population has low back pain in any given year, approximately 23 million cases.
The question that you seriously have to consider is doing all epidemics kill? The answer is no, and it’s a good thing that they don’t. If all of them did kill, most of us would be dead from back pain alone.
Before we get to the #1 treatment, let’s talk about other “common” treatments and the facts about how good they really are. The first is anti-inflammatory drugs, also known as NSAIDs. These drugs, such as Tylenol, Motrin, Aleve and Advil are often the first and most common treatment for back pain. Well, let’s see what 2 prominent medical doctors have to say about them.
Dr. Julian Whitaker, M.D. said, “In our attempt to escape the throbbing of an occasional headache, the muscular ache of being a “weekend warrior,” or back and neck pain, Americans spend over $6.6 billion each year on prescription and over-the-counter pain relievers. But we do so at tremendous cost to our health. These drugs can damage the stomach, liver, kidneys, and even some of the tissues they are designed to support. Aspirin, Ibuprofen, and other NSAID’s which are sometimes taken on a daily basis by arthritis sufferers, actually hasten degeneration of the joint by inhibiting cartilage synthesis and accelerating cartilage destruction.”
Another doctor known as Dr. Joseph Mercola, M.D. in the Department of Health Policy and Management of John’s Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health said that researchers say aspirin and related drugs kill almost as many people every year as the disease AIDS and are responsible for a silent epidemic. About twenty six billion over the counter pills are consumed each year and the number of deaths caused by medicine is large. Some research estimates that approximately sixteen and a half thousand deaths occur annually in the United States from ulcer related complications associated with their use. If those deaths were given their own category, the toxic effects of non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs would amount to the 15th most common cause of death in the United States. Non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs are probably the most dangerous drugs that medicine uses because of their widespread use. As a group, it is likely that they account for the largest amount of deaths of any drug group. The bottom line about NSAID drugs is that they kill sixteen and a half thousand people every year and damage the joints they are supposed to treat.
The next to discuss is very common. This treatment is surgery. You really need to understand only one statistic about surgery to understand its effects. After you understand the statistic, it will shock you. According to the official Clinical Practice Guidelines put out by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, surgery has been found to be helpful in only one in a hundred cases of low back problems. It is important to understand that even having a lot of back pain does not, by itself, mean you need surgery on your spine.
If only one percent of back problems are helped with surgery, is it really worth the risk associated with it. Some the risks are infection, paralysis or even death. This is something that needs to be seriously considered.
Unfortunately, that was the bad news. But with all bad news there is usually good news. Many of the studies I talked about show chiropractic care to be the best, safest and least expensive treatment for back pain. Since you might not believe it coming from a chiropractor in San Diego, I’m going to give you one more thing to consider. This quote is from the well respected Pran Manga, PhD. Dr. Manga is a medical economist from Ontario Ministry of Health who studied this subject very thoroughly. The conclusion was that there is an overwhelming amount of evidence indicating that chiropractic care of low back pain is more cost effective than well known medical care. Chiropractic care of low back pain is greatly superior to medical management in terms of scientific validity, safety, cost-effectiveness and patient satisfaction rates.
There you have it. The only problem is, Dr. Manga published his findings back in 1993. So why haven’t you heard this before? The easy answer is profit!
Reviewing the statistics again you’ll find that the average medical non-surgical back costs a little over seven thousand dollars to treat. The average surgical back costs almost fourteen thousand dollars to treat. And important to understand is that $6.6 billion is being spent every year on drugs. That’s the real facts. After all, I’m sure you realize whose commercials pay for the news you watch every night anyway.
So next time your back hurts, or you have a sore neck, or you are feeling a headache, here’s something for you to consider. Be sure to try chiropractic first, drugs second, and surgery as a last resort!
Want to find out more about chiropractic care, then visit New Century Spine Centers where you’ll find some of the best chiropractors for your needs.
