Sooner or later an amazing 8 of every 10 people in the United States will suffer with back pain.

So many people have found relief from back pain through chiropractic care that chiropractors are often thought of as back doctors.  Of course, they do specialize in the care of the spine, but spinal problems can not only cause back pain, but all sorts of health problems throughout your body.  Still, chiropractic care is indeed effective for back pain.  In fact, The U.S. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (now the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) recently appointed a panel of medical experts who reviewed some 3,900 studies on care for acute low back pain.

The panel rejected bedrest, surgery (except rare cases), injections into the back, and all oral prescription drugs (such as antidepressants or steroids).  In contrast, they found that spinal manipulation, which usually is performed by a chiropractor, "can be helpful for patients with acute low back problems."¹  For pain, they found over-the-counter medications (aspirin, etc.) worked as well as prescriptions but with less side effects.

There are fewer studies on long term chronic back pain than on short term acute back pain.  Still, a recent study in the respected medical journal, Spine, found chiropractic care beneficial for ongoing chronic back pain.  The traditional approach for patients with chronic back pain has been back pain school to teach patients how to cope and live with the pain.  Chiropractic care was compared to back pain school in this study and the chiropractic group did significantly better.  The researchers concluded, "Spinal manipulation is clinically useful in chronic pain patients who have been suffering for seven weeks or more."²

So many scientific and government studies have proven the effectiveness of chiropractic care for back pain that in 1993, the government of Ontario, in a 216 page study of all available evidence, found chiropractic care of low back pain superior to medical management in terms of safety, evidence of effectiveness, evidence of cost effectiveness, and in patient satisfaction.³

If you or anyone you know wants to get safe, effective, and satisfying care for low back pain, call Kim at Reichert Family Chiropractic for an appointment today.

¹ Christopher Connell, "Back Pain," The Associated Press, December 8, 1994

² J. J. Triano, et. al., "Manipulative Therapy Versus Educational Programs in Chronic Low Back Pain," 1995, Spine, Vol. 20, No. 8, pp 948-955 (as reported by Dr. Chapman-Smith, September 1995, The Chiropractic Report, Fumia Publications, Toronto, Canada, Vol. 9, No. 5, p. 6)

³ P. Manga, D. Angus, et. al., (1993), "The Effectiveness and Cost Effectiveness of Chiropractic Management of Low Back Pain," Pran Manga and Associates, University of Ottawa, Canada, (as reported by Chapman-Smith, The Chiropractic Report, September 1993, Fumia Publications, Toronto, Vol. 7, No. 6, p. 3)

from Target Information Management, Inc, 2003, vol. 287