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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.

Fibromyalgia

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The Mayo Clinic defines fibromyalgia as a disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain accompanied by fatigue, memory impairment, and mood disorders. Researchers believe that fibromyalgia amplifies painful sensations by affecting the way one’s brain processes pain signals. Symptoms sometimes begin after physical trauma, surgery, infection, or significant psychological stress. In other cases, symptoms gradually accumulate over time with no single triggering event.

The medical treatment for this condition includes painkillers and antidepressants, as well as anti-seizure medications. In order to be medically diagnosed, a patient needs to feel tender sensations in 11 of 18 predetermined spots on his/her body.

Hiemeyer examined 40 patients with fibromyalgia and concluded, “flexed posture could be an important factor in generalized muscular pain, and posture therefore should be an essential part of the clinical examination of patients with FMS.” Another research study examined 61 patients who were diagnosed with fibromyalgia and found chronic lumbar and cervical problems in over 50% of them.

As you begin to lose the curves in your spine, it can result in significant stress and cause your body to work overtime, leading to taught and tender muscle fibers all over the body. Certain chiropractic techniques are designed to restore these curves into the spine, which reduce physical stress, allowing the body to function normally again. As the curves are restored – especially in the neck – the muscles begin to relax, leading to fewer aches and pains.

Another researcher, Amalu, found: “Upon stabilizing the upper cervical spine, improvement in the symptomatic fibromyalgia patients was 92-100% for all 23 patients. The Torque Release Technique has shown major results in restoration of the cervical curve.”

Whiplash

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The cervical spine provides structural stability and support for the cranium, as well as a protection for the spinal cord and vertebral arteries. It also enables flexible movement and balance adaptation while allowing for directional orientation of the eyes and ears. Nowhere in the spine is the relationship between the osseous structures and the surrounding neurologic and vascular beds as intimate or susceptible to injury as it is in the cervical region. Whether induced by trauma or not, cervical subluxation syndromes may impact the whole body. IVF insults, and the effects of articular fixations, can manifest throughout the motor, sensory, and autonomic nervous systems. Many peripheral nerve symptoms in the shoulder, arm, and hand originate in the cervical spine, as do some brainstem disorders.

It’s hard to believe that at such slow speeds your body may become injured, but researchers recently conducted low speed rear impact tests and concluded that 29% of people developed symptoms related to whiplash at speeds of just 2.5mph. Furthermore, it has been shown that a 10mph rear-end collision can produce up to 9 G’s of force in your neck! Keep in mind, the speed of the collision does not correlate to the degree of injury your body may sustain.

The appropriate chiropractic treatment is unique to each whiplash injury and is directed at the primary dysfunctions detected during the chiropractic exam. Chiropractors are trained to diagnose and treat many of the injuries that are typically associated with whiplash. The length of treatment depends on the severity of the whiplash and the results from the examination. The sooner you get checked after an accident, the smoother and quicker the recovery will be.

More than one million people suffer whiplash injuries each year, and about 10% of those end up with chronic pain that affects their daily activities. If you or someone you know is suffering from pain related to an auto accident, get it checked out by a professional. You don’t deserve to be in chronic pain.