It would appear that the odds are stacked against Americans when it comes to back pain.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adults have an 80 percent chance of experiencing back pain in their lifetime.
To make matters worse, if you do experience such pain, you may be told — as is often the case — that the only options are either drugs or surgery. The former is potentially addictive, and the latter? Well, many believe this headline from a publication focused on natural health says it all: “Back Surgery: Too Many, Too Costly, and Too Ineffective.”
The reality is there’s a third option that a growing number of experts now say should be used before anyone even thinks of prescribing pills or surgery to patients.
That option? Chiropractic care.
“Medical care certainly has not solved the everyday symptom of low back pain, and even may be reinforcing and exacerbating the problem,” renowned orthopedist and spine researcher Gordon Waddell, MD, has said.
In fact, numerous studies have found that chiropractic care, with its adherence to a drug-free and non-invasive focus on spinal manipulation, results in:
• Better outcomes.
• Lower costs.
• A much higher degree of patient satisfaction, as evidenced by the 94.3 percent positive rating reported by the military health program TRICARE among participating active and retired Army personnel.
“It’s gratifying that patients and doctors are seeing the wisdom of considering chiropractic first, medicine second, and surgery last,” says the not-for-profit Foundation for Chiropractic Progress’ Gerard Clum, DC.
