The Spinal Column          Winter 1999

What to do for Chronic Back Pain

There is now a large body of scientific evidence that chiropractic care is effective and really the best choice of care for acute back pain. The word "acute" is used to indicate short term back pain existing less than four to six weeks. Even the U.S. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research recommends chiropractic care for acute low back pain. On the other hand, chronic back pain that continues for beyond six weeks has not had as much clear cut evidence proving chiropractic care effective but that is changing. A study published in the respected medical journal has shown chiropractic care to be beneficial for ongoing chronic pain.

Traditionally, when various forms of active therapies had not resolved back pain and it became chronic, the most common approach has been back pain school, or back education, which is designed to help patients cope and live with the pain, and to modify their activities and lifestyles to help reduce things that aggravate their painful condition. So, a study was set up to compare back education to chiropractic adjustments (spinal manipulation) for people with chronic back pain.

Two hundred and nine patients with low back pain existing for seven weeks or longer, or with more than six episodes in the past year, were randomly assigned to three groups which either received chiropractic adjustments, fake or sham adjustments, or back education. At the end of a two week treatment period, and again two weeks later as follow up, the patients in the chiropractic adjustment group did significantly better than the other two groups. We should point out that the other two groups also showed some improvement, but significantly less than those getting adjusted. The researchers concluded that "spinal manipulation is clinically useful in chronic pain patients who have been suffering for seven weeks or more." If you are suffering with chronic back pain or know someone who is, why wait? Get chiropractic care.

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Chiropractic: Taking Your Back
To The Future

A common misconception is that Doctors of Chiropractic are bone crunchers" who are only trained to force bones back into place and treat sore backs. The reality is that chiropractors are thoroughly trained to detect, analyze, correct and prevent vertebral subluxations, which, we should all know by now, are spinal bones out of alignment.

Dedicated to working with nature, chiropractic philosophy centers on the belief that our ability to adapt to changes in our internal/external environment is essential to good health. This ability depends on the unobstructed nerve flow from every cell of the body through the spinal cord to the brain. The brain, in turn, guides every cell through a return nerve flow. (Makes sense doesn't it?).

Every part of our amazing body is constantly sending messages regarding function back to the brain. The brain responds accordingly in a fraction of a second to maintain the organ or tissue in good condition. A vertebral subluxation can choke delicate spinal nerves and interfere with the proper flow of nerve impulses between the brain, organs, tissues and cells of the body. This obstruction can lead to impairment of the body's ability to stay healthy and can lay groundwork for "disease".

The unfortunate element in all this is that the majority of vertebral subluxations may cause little or no pain. Just as an insidious tooth cavity gives little warning, there has to be enough nerve or muscle damage in order for a subluxation to give the warning signal of pain.

Did you know that the majority of vertebral subluxations have their origins when we are ten years old or younger? It may take years to manifest into a serious condition. How do subluxations occur, you may wonder. The birth process itself may cause subluxations as well as the bumps and falls of childhood. Continuing bad posture and poor sleeping positions can add to this. Throw in chronic physical, mental or emotional fatigue due to unhealthy lifestyles and the body is under too much stress.

Chiropractic is the largest "drugless" and "knifeless" healing profession in the world and is gaining increased recognition by researchers and health care consumers alike. Chiropractic can make an invaluable difference to someone that has tolerated poor health and wants to have an impact on his or her total health.

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