Can Chiropractic Help the Post-Surgical Patient?
Clear Lake Chiropractor Comments: Low back pain (LBP) accounts for over 3 million emergency department visits per year in the United States alone. Worldwide, LBP affects approximately 84% of the general population, so eventually almost EVERYONE will have lower back pain that requires treatment! There is evidence dating back to the early Roman and Greek era that indicates back pain was also very prevalent, and that really hasn’t changed. Some feel it’s because we are bipedal (walk on two legs) rather than quadrupedal (walk on four limbs). When comparing the two, degenerative disk disease and spinal osteoarthritis are postponed in the four-legged species by approximately two (equivalent) decades. But regardless of the reason, back pain is “the rule,” NOT the exception when it comes to patient visits to chiropractors and medical doctors. Previously, we looked at the surgical rate of low back pain by comparing patients who initially went to spinal surgeons vs. to chiropractors, and we were amazed! Remember? Approximately 43% of workers who first saw a surgeon had surgery compared to ONLY 1.5% of those who first saw a chiropractor! So, the questions this month are, how successful IS spinal surgery, and what about all those patients who have had surgery but still have problems – can chiropractic still help them?
A review of the literature published in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons showed that in most cases of degenerative disk disease (DDD), non-surgical approaches are the most effective treatment choice (that includes chiropractic!). They report the success rate of spinal fusions for DDD has been only 50-60%. The advent of artificial disks, which originally proposed to be a “cure” for symptomatic disk disease, has fared no better with possible worse long-term problems that are not yet fully understood. They state, “Surgery should be the last option, but too often patients think of surgery as a cure-all and are eager to embark on it.” They go on to write, “Also, surgeons should pay close attention to the list of contraindications, and recommend surgery only for those patients who are truly likely to benefit from it.” Another study reported that, when followed for 10 years after artificial disk surgery, a similar 40% of the patients treated failed and had a second surgery within three years after the first! Similar findings are reported for post-surgical spinal stenosis as well as other spinal conditions.
So what about the success rate of chiropractic management for patients who have had low back surgery? In a 2012 article, three patients who had prior lumbar spinal fusions at least two years previous were treated with spinal manipulation (three treatments over three consecutive days) followed by rehabilitation for eight weeks. At the completion of care, all three (100%) had clinical improvement that were still maintained a year later. Another study reported 32 cases of post-surgical low back pain patients undergoing chiropractic care resulted in an average drop in pain from 6.4/10 to 2.3/10 (that means pain was reduced by 4.1 points out of 10 or, 64%). An even larger drop was reported when dividing up those who had a combination of spinal surgeries (diskectomy, fusion, and/or laminectomy) with a pain drop of 5.7 out of 10 points!
Typically, spinal surgery SHOULD be the last resort, but we now know that is not always practiced. IF a patient has had more than one surgery and still has pain, the term “failed back syndrome” is applied and carries many symptoms and disability. Again, to NOT utilize chiropractic post-surgically seems almost as foolish as not utilizing it pre-surgically! GIVE US A CALL!!!
We realize you have a choice in whom you consider for your health care provision and we sincerely appreciate your trust in choosing our service for those needs. If you, a friend, or family member requires care for back pain, we would be honored to render our services. . Dr. Ward Beecher practices at Beecher Chiropractic Clinic at 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston, TX 77062. You can schedule an appointment at BeecherChiropractic.com or by calling (281) 286-1300. If you have any questions regarding this blog, please e-mail them to [email protected]
Low Back Pain: Surgery vs. Chiropractic?
Clear Lake City Chiropractor Comments: Low back pain (LBP) is the second most common cause of disability in the United States (US) and a very common reason for lost days at work with an estimated 149 million days of work lost per year. The total cost associated with this is astronomical at between $100-200 billion/yr, of which 2/3rds are due to decreased wages and productivity. More than 80% of the population will have an episode of LBP at some point in their lifetime. The good news is that 95% recover within two to three months of onset. However, some never recover which leads to chronic LBP (LBP > 3 months), and 20-44% will have a recurrence of LBP within one year with lifetime recurrences of up to 85%! What this means is that most of us have, have had, or will have LBP, and we’ll get it again! So the question is, what are we going to do about it?
Surgery has traditionally been considered a “last resort” with less invasive approaches recommended first. Chiropractic adjustments and management strategies have traditionally faired very well when compared to other non-surgical methods like physical therapy, acupuncture, and massage therapy. But, is there evidence that by receiving chiropractic treatment, low back surgery can be avoided? Let’s take a look!
A recent study was designed to determine whether or not we could predict those who would require low back surgery within three years of a job-related back injury. This is a very important study as back injuries are the most common occupational injury in the US, and few studies have investigated what, if any, early predictors of future spine surgery after work-related injury exist. The study reviewed cases of 1,885 Washington state workers, of which 174 or 9.2% had low back surgery within three years. The initial predictors of surgery included high disability scores on questionnaires, greater injury severity, and seeing a surgeon as the first provider after the injury. Reduced odds of having surgery included: 1) <35 years old; 2) Females; 3) Hispanics; and 4) those who FIRST saw a chiropractor. Approximately 43% of workers who first saw a surgeon had surgery compared to ONLY 1.5% of those who first saw a chiropractor! WOW!!! This study supports the FACT that IF a low back injured worker first sees a chiropractor vs. a surgeon, the likelihood of needing surgery in the three years after the injury would be DRAMATICALLY reduced! In fact, the strongest predictor of whether an injured worker would undergo surgery was found to be related to who they saw first after the injury: a surgeon or a chiropractor.
If this isn’t enough evidence, another recent study (University of British Columbia) looked at the safety of spine surgery and reported that (taken from a group of 942 LBP surgical patients): 1) 87% had at least one documented complication; 2) 39% of the 87% had to stay longer in the hospital as a result; 3) 10.5% had a complication during the surgery; 4) 73.5% had a post-surgical complication (which included: 8% delirium, 7% pneumonia, 5% nerve pain, 4.5% had difficulty swallowing, 3% nerve deterioration, 13.5% wound complication); 5) 14 people died as a surgical complication. Another study showed lower annual healthcare costs for those receiving chiropractic vs. those who did not. The “take-home” message is clear: TRY CHIROPRACTIC FIRST!!!
We realize you have a choice in whom you consider for your health care provision and we sincerely appreciate your trust in choosing our service for those needs. If you, a friend, or family member requires care for back pain, we would be honored to render our services. . Dr. Ward Beecher practices at Beecher Chiropractic Clinic at 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston, TX 77062. You can schedule an appointment at BeecherChiropractic.com or by calling (281) 286-1300. If you have any questions regarding this blog, please e-mail them to [email protected] .
Your Low Back Pain Diagnosis And Why It Is Important
Houston Chiropractor Comments: With any health condition, most doctors agree an accurate diagnosis is important. But with low back pain, it seems that many sufferers postpone the visit to the doctor in hopes that it will go away on its own. It’s no wonder many patients take this approach, since advertisements continually tell us that relief comes in a bottle of little pills. We are almost led to believe that finding out what is wrong with our back is of little importance, that we just need to block the pain, and get on with our lives.
But we need to understand that pain is a signal the body puts out to get our attention-to tell us to take it easy, move less and so on. Despite what pill advertisers would like you to believe, pain is not the problem, it is a signal there is a problem.
If you don’t immediately reach for the pain pills, then maybe you think taking to bed rest for a couple of days and saying the five magic words, “…maybe it will go away..,” would do the trick? Sometimes it does help the pain, but this approach rarely helps the actual problem. Doing this over and over can actually lead to more significant problems, because you are not getting the care you need. A reason why you may not be getting the care you need, is because no one has actually diagnosed what is actually the problem.
And when one says diagnose, that doesn’t mean looking you over from behind a desk and handing you a prescription for some strong medications. While talking over how you’ve been doing is important, it is not a thorough examination. In our office we will attempt to determine the CAUSE of your pain…and not surprisingly, it’s rarely a lack of pills in your diet. We perform mechanical tests to see how your spine moves and when necessary perform imaging studies such as x-rays, to see the positions of the bones in your spine.
Sometimes, a consultation is all that is needed to see if you may be a good candidate for specific chiropractic care. Or maybe you would just like to see what kinds of techniques and services we offer in our office? Please remember that an accurate diagnosis of the cause of your pain is the first step to getting back your quality of life. Dr. Ward Beecher practices at Beecher Chiropractic Clinic at 1001 Pineloch, Ste 700 Houston, TX 77062. You can schedule an appointment at BeecherChiropractic.com or by calling (281) 286-1300. If you have any questions regarding this blog, please e-mail them to [email protected] .
