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Back Pain

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Over 31 million Americans experience back pain at any given time, and low back pain is the number-one cause of disability worldwide. The United States alone spends over $50 million a year for back-pain-related issues. In fact, low back pain is the second leading cause of doctor’s visits, behind only upper respiratory problems.

Due to the frequency of low back pain, there have been hundreds of research studies that prove the benefits of chiropractic. For example, one study examined 101 patients with acute low back pain and divided them into three groups. Group 1 receive chiropractic adjustments, Group 2 received pharmaceuticals, and Group 3 was a control group that received no treatment. Almost all of the participants in the control group dropped out of the study because they could not deal with the pain. Both Groups 1 and 2 showed improvement, though Group 1 (the chiropractic group) showed

A new research study actually reveals that back surgery fails in 74% of cases. Researchers reviewed records from 1,450 patients in the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation database who had diagnoses of disc degeneration, disc herniation, or radiculopathy, a nerve condition that causes tingling and weakness of the limbs. Half of the patients had surgery to fuse two or more vertebrae in hopes of curing low back pain. The other half had no surgery, even though they had comparable diagnoses. After two years, just 26% of those who had surgery had actually returned to work, compared to 67% of patients who didn’t have surgery. In what might be the most troubling finding, researchers determined that there was a 41% increase in the use of painkillers, specifically opiates, in those who had surgery.

Any type of back pain is a warning sign of internal body issues that need to be corrected. Subluxation-based chiropractors focus on getting to the root of the problem so your body can recover, heal, and work the way it was designed to.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

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There is some compelling evidence that carpal tunnel syndrome may be more common in people who use their hands for strenuous, repetitive tasks (dental hygienists, office or skilled labor jobs, tennis players, golfers, and even knitters) as well as among those making extensive use of vibrating tools. Contrary to popular belief, little evidence suggests that repetitive typing and keyboard use may be a contributing factor. Recent research has actually shown that a certain level of typing may actually be beneficial in preventing carpal tunnel.

Medical management for carpal tunnel usually consists of prescribing NSAIDs. This class of pharmaceuticals has been known to cause stomach bleeding, peptic ulcers, and kidney failure, as well as high blood pressure. If the NSAIDs are not effective, orthopedic surgeons may perform an operation that cuts the transverse carpal ligament in half to alleviate the pressure. This surgery has an alarmingly high failure rate.

A chiropractor knows that if your hands have pain and tingling, the first place to look is your neck, specifically in the mid to lower cervical spine. This is where the nerve roots which make up the brachial plexus originate. The brachial plexus is divided into nerves including the median and ulnar nerve, which travel all the way to the tips of the fingers. Nerve root irritation can occur at numerous places between the vertebra of the neck and the wrist, which can lead to many secondary complications. When a chiropractor adjusts the neck and removes the irritation at the nerve roots, the secondary or downstream symptoms may simply resolve. This is not only a more conservative approach, but also has a higher success rate than surgery for carpal tunnel.