Want To Avoid Surgery? See A Chiropractor

In our Las Vegas practice, we see plenty of patients who are dealing with back pain, and some of these folks have been informed they might need surgery to recover. Fortunately, Dr. Forsyth has helped many people get relief without the need for any type of surgical procedure. The scientific literature agrees with the results we see in our office. One research study published in the journal Spine found that consulting with a chiropractor as your first move in overcoming with your back pain may literally keep you off of the operating table.

In this research study, medical professionals from Dartmouth reviewed data from 1,885 workers from Washington state who first saw either a surgeon or a chiropractor for their back pain issues. They then looked at three years' worth of follow-up medical data to find out whether the patients ended up having back surgery in an effort to treat the issue.

What the researchers discovered was that about 43% of the people who first saw a surgeon for their back problems ended up having a surgical procedure in that 3-year time frame, 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 impressive results. Visiting a chiropractor considerably decreases your odds of having back surgery, plus the chiropractic patients in this scientific 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 performed by orthopedic surgeons from Dartmouth College, and published in the world's most influential medical journal on spinal injury.

The Problems with Surgery

Any surgery has risks, but a major downside associated with spinal 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. Forsyth believes that surgery should be the absolute last choice for treating back pain. Chiropractic works to restore your spine to its normal function--without high-risk surgery or drugs--and many studies have confirmed the effectiveness of chiropractic for back pain.

If you live in Las Vegas and you need relief for your back pain, give our practice a call today at (702) 722-2225 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.