In our Boardman, OH practice, we see a large number of people who are struggling with back pain, and some of these folks have been advised they might need surgery to recover. Thankfully, Dr. Denise Carradine has helped many people get pain relief without the need for any type of surgery. The scientific literature confirms the success we see in our office. One research study published in the academic journal Spine found that seeing a chiropractor as your first step in dealing with your back problems may literally keep you out of the operating room.
In this study, medical professionals from Dartmouth reviewed statistics from about 1,900 workers from the state of Washington who first saw either a surgeon or a chiropractor for their low back issues. They then looked at three years' worth of follow-up medical data to ascertain whether the patients wound up having back surgery in an attempt to treat the issue.
What the authors found was that about 43% 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% 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 impressive results. Visiting a chiropractor dramatically 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 consider this important point: this study was carried out by orthopedic surgeons from Dartmouth College, and printed in the world's most influential medical publication on spinal injuries.
Surgery: The Last Resort
Any surgery has risks, but a major problem associated with spine surgery is that there is a very high rate of failure. In an important review 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. Denise Carradine believes that surgery should be the absolute last resort for treating back pain. Chiropractic works to restore your spine to its normal function--without high-risk surgery or drugs--and many research studies have established the efficacy of chiropractic for back pain.
If you live in Boardman, OH and you need relief for your back pain, give our practice a call today at (330) 758-4446 for a consultation or an appointment. We'll help get you back on the road to a pain-free life!
Studies
Thanks for visiting our website! Are you looking for a natural, drug-free solution to headaches, neck pain or back pain? Do you suffer from shoulder pain, elbow pain or carpal tunnel syndrome? Our gentle chiropractic methods have successfully treated these conditions, as well as hip pain, knee pain, foot/ankle pain, TMJ dysfunction, fibromyalgia, and much more.
