Want To Avoid Surgery? See A Chiropractor

In our North County St. Louis, MO chiropractic clinic, we see many patients who are struggling with back pain, and some of these people have been advised they might need surgery to recover. Thankfully, Dr. Holland has helped many people get pain relief without the need for any type of surgical procedure. The science confirms the success we see in our practice. One medical study published in the academic journal Spine found that consulting with a chiropractor as your first move in dealing with your back pain may literally keep you out of the operating room.

In this study, medical experts from Dartmouth analyzed statistics from about 1,900 workers from Washington state who first saw either an orthopedic surgeon or a chiropractor for their low back issues. They then used three years' worth of follow-up medical information to ascertain whether the patients wound up having back surgery in an effort to correct the issue.

What the authors observed was that about 43% of the patients who first saw a surgeon for their back problems ended up with surgery in that 3-year time span, whereas only 1.5% 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 remarkable outcomes. Consulting with a chiropractor dramatically decreases your odds of getting back surgery, plus the chiropractic patients in this study "had lower odds of chronic work disability" and they also had fewer expensive MRI tests.

Let's also take into account this important point: this study was performed by orthopedic surgeons from Dartmouth College, and printed in the world's most distinguished medical publication on spinal injuries.

Why You Should Avoid Surgery

Any surgical procedure has risks, but a serious downside associated with spinal surgery is that there's 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. Holland is convinced that surgery should be the absolute last resort for treating back pain. Chiropractic works to restore your spine to its normal function--without the need of risky surgery or drugs--and many research studies have confirmed the effectiveness of chiropractic for back pain.

If you live in North County St. Louis, MO and you need care for your back pain, give our practice a call today at (314) 867-8888 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.