Chiropractic Can Prevent Back Surgery (if a chiropractor sees you first…)

Back injury is the most common occupational injury in the United States. Because of the medical inflation and overtreatment, it it also the costliest work-related injury. The use of surgery has increased sharply with little corresponding increase in treatment efficacy and success.

A study published in the medical journal Spine reviewed 1885 Washington State workers with recent back injuries and “used medical bill data to determine whether participants underwent surgery…within 3 years.”

Of the 1885 workers, 174 (9.2%) had low back surgery within 3 years of the injury. And “[a]pproximately 42.7% of workers who first saw a surgeon had surgery, in contrast to only 1.5% of those who saw a chiropractor.”

The article also mentions “[t]here was a very strong association between surgery and first provider seen for the injury even after adjustment for other important variables.”

Chiropractic is a safe, very effective choice for back injury, and the study supports that those who see a chiropractor have much better chance to avoid back surgery. Please Contact Us or your local chiropractor today.

References:

 

Keeney, B. J., Fulton-Kehoe, D., Turner, J. a, Wickizer, T. M., Chan, K. C. G., & Franklin, G. M. (2012). Early Predictors of Lumbar Spine Surgery after Occupational Back Injury: Results from a Prospective Study of Workers in Washington State. Spine38(11), 953–964.

Courtney, T. K., & Webster, B. S. (1999). Disabling occupational morbidity in the United States. An alternative way of seeing the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ data. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine / American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine41(1), 60–69.

Gou, H. R., Tanaka, S., Halperin, W. E., & Cameron, L. L. (1999). Back pain prevalence in US industry and estimates of lost workdays. American Journal of Public Health89(7), 1029–1035.

Shuford, H., Restrepo, T., Beaven, N., & Leigh, J. P. (2009). Trends in components of medical spending within workers compensation: results from 37 states combined. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine / American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine51(2), 232–8.

Deyo, R. a, Mirza, S. K., Turner, J. a, & Martin, B. I. (2009). Overtreating chronic back pain: time to back off? Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine: JABFM22(1), 62–68.

Chou R, Baisden J, Carragee EJ, Resnick DK, Shaffer WO, Loeser JD. (2009). Surgery for low back pain: A review of the evidence for an American Pain Society Clinical Practice Guideline. Spine, 34(10):1094–9.

Cherkin, D. C., Deyo, R. A., Loeser, J. D., Bush, T., & Waddell, G. (1994). An international comparison of back surgery rates. Spine19(11), 1201–6.