Staff Writer
It’s a fact: more than 85% of people experience back pain severe enough to feel the need to see a doctor at some point in their life. The question is, what should you do about it? Here’s why you should consider chiropractic care first.
Robert H. Shmerling, M.D., Senior Faculty Editor, all of Harvard Health Publishing, notes in article about care options for low-back pain that despite today’s advanced medical knowledge, “the precise cause of pain is often unclear. And a single, best treatment for most low-back pain is unknown.”
That being the case, seeing a doctor of chiropractic (D.C.), a specialist in musculoskeletal conditions, and considering non-pharmaceutical treatment options such as chiropractic care as a first course of action makes sense.
Considerable evidence-based research supports this position.
What Evidence-based Research Says
According to one research article (Nylendo et al.), “Patients with chronic low-back pain treated by chiropractors showed greater improvement and satisfaction at one month than patients treated by family physicians.”
Another study (Haase et al.) showed, “Acute and chronic chiropractic patients experienced better outcomes in pain, functional disability, and patient satisfaction; clinically important differences in pain and disability improvement were found for chronic patients.”
In addition, if that isn’t enough to convince you to seek out a Doctor of Chiropractic for the cause of your low-back pain, here’s a quote from a 2015 research article (Schneider et al.) published in the journal Spine. “Manual-thrust manipulation provides greater short-term reductions in self-reported disability and pain compared with usual medical care; 94% of the manual-thrust manipulation group achieved greater than 30% reduction in pain compared with 69% of usual medical care.”
In 2017, such research led the nation’s largest medical-specialty organization, the American College of Physicians (ACP), to change its clinical recommendations, advocating first choosing conservative, non-invasive treatments, including manual therapies by a chiropractor.
Learn More About How Chiropractic Can Help
In the interest of optimizing health during your lifetime, chiropractors may also recommend therapeutic exercises, posture changes, and nutrition and lifestyle changes.
You may also find it comforting to know that low-back pain care initiated with a Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C.) saved 20-40% on healthcare costs when compared with care initiated through a medical doctor (M.D.) That analysis comes from a two-year study of 85,000 Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) beneficiaries in Tennessee.
You have choices when it comes to healthcare. Given the statistics mentioned, and especially if you’re already suffering from chronic low-back pain, perhaps it’s time to consider scheduling an appointment at the CUKC Chiropractic Health Center.
CUKC Chiropractic Health Center
Cleveland University-Kansas City (CUKC), founded in 1922, is a private, nonprofit, chiropractic and health science-focused university in Overland Park, Kansas. The CUKC on-campus Chiropractic Health Center is open to the public and treats patients from Kansas City’s 15-county metro area. Our goal is to provide care and solutions for a better, more productive life for our patients.
