Back Pain....You are not alone! But what you do about it matters.

Sooner or later, almost everybody experiences back pain.   Eight out of ten Americans will suffer with back pain.  Of course, chiropractors are typically thought of as back doctors, even though we treat many other things. 

Because so many people do suffer from back pain, the government appointed a panel to discuss the most EFFECTIVE treatments for low back pain.  They found that chiropractic care "can be helpful with acute low back pain" while bedrest, many types of injections and several presciption medications were found to be not as effective or ineffective. 

Most people understood this concept innately....that when your back hurts going to the chiropractor helps.
But  people often question the need chiropractic for ongoing, chronic low back pain because you usually don't see the same dramatic results.  

The truth is there is no silver bullet that will give you those dramatic results. Chiropractic has been studied against home exercise programs, medication, back pain school and other treatment options in the treatment of these tough chronic cases.

An article in the medical journal, Spine, found chiropractic care beneficial for ONGOING CHRONIC back pain.  "Spinal manipulation is clinically useful for chronic pain patients who have been suffering seven weeks or more."  Another study has also found chiropractic care of low back pain superior to medical management in terms of safety, evidence of effectiveness and in patient satisfaction.

Nerve Compression Signs

We've all heard of the "pinched nerve" but what is pinching it, how do you know that's what it is and how do you fix it.   Many patients have minimal MRI findings and lots of pain......why?

Nerve compression (pinched nerve) usually presents with patient complaints of numbness, tingling, pain which may be accompanied by weakness in an arm or leg.   The patient is referred to a neurosurgeon who says no surgery will work and  then to pain management for injections.  Eventually, they come into my office with tons of questions.

It is a common misconception among the general public that the nerve is always technically pinched.  In fact, many times, there is no direct pressure on the nerve but the disc next to the nerve is inflamed and this causes a chemical irritation to the nerve that mimics direct pressure.   I tell patients this is like standing next to a man who is constantly spitting on you, you would become irritated too. Unfortunately, your nerve doesn't have the option of walking away from the spitter!

Many times this chemical irritation is much harder to correct than direct compression.  Surgery doesn't usually help in this scenario and injections only work half the time.  I have found that while difficult to work with, a treatment plan than includes chiropractic, non-surgical decompression and acupuncture in addition to traditional medical treatments has a much higher success rate in resolving the situation.

The important thing to remember is that this problem is real no matter if it is from direct compression or from inflammation and you must deal with it before it becomes worse.