Back Pain? You Are Not Alone!
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." 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 to teach patients how to cope and live with the pain. Researchers have concluded, "Spinal manipulation is clinically useful in chronic pain patients who have been suffering for seven weeks or more."
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.
If you or anyone you know wants to get safe, effective, and satisfying care for low back pain, call Reichert Family Chiropractic at (614) 866-7776 for an appointment today.