In our South Buffalo practice, we see plenty of patients who are dealing with back pain, and some of these patients have been advised they might need surgery to recover. Thankfully, Dr. Nowak has helped many people get relief without the need for any type of surgical treatment. The scientific literature confirms the success we see in our practice. One research study published in the medical journal Spine found that seeing a chiropractor as your first step in overcoming with your back pain may literally keep you out of the operating room.
In this research study, medical experts from Dartmouth reviewed statistics from 1,885 workers from Washington state who first saw either a surgeon or a chiropractic doctor for their low back issues. They then used three years' worth of follow-up medical records to ascertain whether the subjects ended up having back surgery in an attempt to treat the issue.
What the researchers determined was that 42.7% of the people who first saw a surgeon for their back issues ended up with surgery in that 3-year time span, whereas only 1.5% of those who first saw a chiropractor had the same fate. The authors wrote:
"Even after controlling for injury severity and other measures, workers with an initial visit for the injury to a surgeon had almost nine times the odds of receiving lumbar spine surgery compared to those seeing primary care providers, whereas workers whose first visit was to a chiropractor had significantly lower odds of surgery."
These are remarkable outcomes. Visiting a chiropractor drastically reduces your odds of having back surgery, plus the chiropractic patients in this study "had lower odds of chronic work disability" and they also had fewer expensive MRI tests.
Let's also keep in mind this important detail: this study was conducted by orthopedic surgeons from Dartmouth College, and published in the world's most influential medical journal on spinal injury.
Why You Should Avoid Surgery
Any surgery has risks, but a major downside linked to spine surgery is that there's a very high failure rate. In an important analysis in the European Spine Journal, researchers wrote:
"Failed back surgery is a problem that has become sufficiently widespread to even warrant its own special conferences, with recent reviews reporting failure rates ranging from 5 to 50%."
The authors of this same study concluded:
"It is extremely difficult to identify unequivocal predictor factors that can be used to accurately predict the outcome of surgery."
As a chiropractor, Dr. Nowak believes that surgery should be the absolute last choice for treating back pain. Chiropractic works to restore your spine to its normal function--without the need of high-risk surgery or drugs--and many research studies have established the effectiveness of chiropractic for back pain.
If you live in South Buffalo and you need relief for your back pain, give our office a call today at (716) 825-4121 for a consultation or an appointment. We'll help get you back on the road to a pain-free life!
Studies
- Keeney BJ, Fulton-Kehoe D, Turner JA, Wickizer TM, Chan KC, Franklin GM. Early predictors of lumbar spine surgery after occupational back injury: results from a prospective study of workers in Washington State. Spine 2013;38(11):953-964.
- Mannion AF, Elfering A. Predictors of surgical outcome and their assessment. European Spine Journal 2006;15(Suppl 1):S93-S108.
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