Avoiding the Surgeon's Knife with Chiropractic Care

In our Corvallis practice, we see plenty of people who are struggling with back pain, and some of these people have been advised they might need surgery to recover. Fortunately, Dr. Lach has helped many people get pain relief without the need for any type of surgical procedure. The science confirms the results we see in our office. One research study published in the academic journal Spine found that consulting with a chiropractor as your first step in overcoming with your back issues may literally keep you off of the operating table.

In this study, medical professionals from Dartmouth analyzed statistics from 1,885 workers from the state of Washington who first saw either a surgeon or a chiropractic doctor for their back pain issues. They then looked at three years' worth of follow-up medical data to determine whether the subjects wound up having back surgery in an effort to treat the issue.

What the researchers determined was that 42.7% of the people who first saw a surgeon for their back issues ended up in surgery 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 results. Visiting a chiropractor drastically reduces 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 published in the world's most distinguished medical journal on spinal injuries.

The Risks of Surgery

Any surgical procedure has risks, but a serious downside associated with spine surgery is that there's 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 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. Lach believes that surgery should be the absolute last choice for treating back pain. Chiropractic care works to restore your spine to its normal function--without high-risk surgery or drugs--and many scientific studies have confirmed the usefulness of chiropractic for back pain.

If you live in Corvallis and you need care for your back pain, give our practice a call today at (541) 754-1947 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.