Chiropractic Is a Natural Alternative to Back Surgery

In our Rockville practice, we see many people who are troubled with back pain, and some of these people have been told they might need surgery to recover. Fortunately, Dr. Aazami has helped many people get relief without the need for any type of operation. The science confirms the results we see in our office. One medical 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 scientific study, medical professionals from Dartmouth analyzed data from about 1,900 workers from Washington state who first saw either a surgeon or a chiropractic doctor for their back-related issues. They then looked at three years' worth of follow-up medical records to ascertain whether the patients wound up having back surgery in an attempt to correct the problem.

What the authors discovered was that 42.7% of the patients who first saw a surgeon for their back problems ended up with surgery in that 3-year time frame, whereas only 1.5 percent 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 results. Consulting with a chiropractor drastically reduces your odds of getting back surgery, plus the chiropractic patients in this report "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 carried out by orthopedic surgeons from Dartmouth College, and printed in the world's most distinguished medical journal on spinal injury.

The Problems with Surgery

Any surgical procedure has risks, but a major problem associated with spine surgery is that there's a very high rate of failure. 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. Aazami is convinced that surgery should be the absolute last resort for treating back pain. Chiropractic works to restore your spine to its normal function--without the need of risky surgery or drugs--and many scientific studies have confirmed the effectiveness of chiropractic for back pain.

If you live in Rockville and you need relief for your back pain, give our office a call today at (240) 221-2666 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.