Avoid Back Surgery With Chiropractic Care

In our Clarksdale, Hernando, Horn Lake & Olive Branch office, we see many people who are troubled with back pain, and some of these folks have been advised they might need surgery to recover. Thankfully, Dr. Kasprack has helped many people get relief without the need for any type of surgical procedure. The scientific research confirms the success we see in our practice. One research study published in the medical journal Spine found that consulting with a chiropractor as your first step in overcoming with your back pain may actually keep you out of the operating room.

In this scientific study, medical experts from Dartmouth reviewed statistics from 1,885 workers from the state of Washington who first saw either an orthopedic surgeon or a chiropractor for their back pain issues. They then used three years' worth of follow-up medical information to ascertain whether the subjects ended up having back surgery in an attempt to correct the issue.

What the researchers found was that 42.7% of the men and women who first saw a surgeon for their back issues ended up with surgery in that 3-year time frame, 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 impressive findings. Visiting a chiropractor considerably reduces your odds of getting back surgery, plus the chiropractic patients in this report "had lower odds of chronic work disability" and they also had fewer expensive MRI tests.

Let's also consider this important detail: this study was conducted by orthopedic surgeons from Dartmouth College, and printed in the world's most influential medical publication on spinal injuries.

The Problems with Surgery

Any surgical procedure has risks, but a serious downside related to spine surgery is that there's a very high failure rate. 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. Kasprack believes that surgery should be the absolute last choice for treating back pain. Chiropractic care works to restore your spine to its normal function--without the need of risky surgery or drugs--and many scientific studies have confirmed the efficacy of chiropractic for back pain.

If you live in Clarksdale, Hernando, Horn Lake & Olive Branch and you need relief for your back pain, give our practice a call today at (662) 890-0012 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.