Avoiding the Surgeon's Knife with Chiropractic Care

In our Yuma practice, we see a large number of patients who are struggling with back pain, and a few of these people have been told they might need surgery to recover. Fortunately, Montero Chiropractic Clinic has helped many people get relief without the need for any type of surgical procedure. The scientific literature agrees with the success we see in our office. One research study published in the academic journal Spine found that seeing a chiropractor as your first move in dealing with your back problems may literally keep you off of the operating table.

In this scientific study, medical professionals from Dartmouth reviewed statistics from 1,885 workers from Washington state who first saw either an orthopedic surgeon or a chiropractic doctor for their back pain issues. They then used three years' worth of follow-up medical information to ascertain whether the individuals wound up having back surgery in an effort to treat the issue.

What the authors discovered was that about 43% of the people 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 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 findings. Seeing a chiropractor significantly decreases your odds of getting 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 consider 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 Risks of Surgery

Any surgery has risks, but a serious downside linked to spinal surgery is that there is a very high failure rate. 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 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, Montero Chiropractic Clinic 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 research studies have documented the efficacy of chiropractic for back pain.

If you live in Yuma and you need care for your back pain, give our practice a call today at (928) 782-2233 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.