Interestingly, back pain is treated by a number of professionals like pain physicians (2%), acupuncturists (7%), chiropractic physicians (40%) and primary care physicians (52%). Who feels the
least likely to feel confident to manage such musculoskeletal pain and neuropathic pain?
The primary care physicians. (
2) Chiropractors are specially trained to examine, diagnose and treat back pain. (Between their ability to reduce back pain and their hands-on approach to healing, chiropractors have a special way that they are also able to talk with their patients about wellness and healthy lifestyle issues, too. That's a discussion for another time...) Now, back to back pain...
Even
before surgery for back pain (baseball players return to play faster non-surgically than surgically treated (
3) and surgical outcomes after 1 year for disc herniation and sciatica is 49% to 58% successful (
4) plus the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center requires chiropractic/spinal manipulation before back surgery referral (
9) ),
before epidural steroids for back pain (which are being called for a ban in Switzerland because there is no support for their use (
5) ),
before drugs for back pain (moderate to low quality efficacy for NSAID and other drugs sued for sciatica (
6) ),
before imaging for back pain (due to the risk of radiation exposure (
7)...and cost in today's healthcare climate), a trial of
spinal manipulation is reasonable. And patients with
radiculopathy did significantly better with
flexion distraction (Cox Technic) spinal manipulation than medical care. (
8)
So if
back pain or other spine or spine-related
condition is the issue, shouldn't spinal manipulation be the top choice for its relief by the back pain specialist doctor and the back pain patient? Just a consideration...