Avoiding the Surgeon's Knife with Chiropractic

In our Tulsa practice, we see a lot of people who are suffering from back pain, and some of these patients have been informed they might need surgery to recover. Fortunately, Dr. Bogan has helped many people get pain relief without the need for any type of surgical treatment. The science agrees with the success we see in our practice. One study published in the medical journal Spine found that seeing a chiropractor as your first move in overcoming with your back problems may actually keep you out of the operating room.

In this study, medical professionals from Dartmouth analyzed statistics from 1,885 workers from the state of Washington who first saw either a surgeon or a chiropractor for their back pain issues. They then examined three years' worth of follow-up medical information to find out whether the individuals wound up having back surgery in an attempt to treat the issue.

What the researchers found was that about 43% of the individuals who first consulted with a surgeon for their back issues ended up in surgery 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 findings. 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 point: this study was conducted by orthopedic surgeons from Dartmouth College, and printed in the world's most distinguished medical publication on spinal injuries.

The Problems with Surgery

Any surgical procedure has risks, but a major problem associated with spinal surgery is that there is a very high failure rate. In an important review 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 experts in 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. Bogan believes that surgery should be the absolute last resort for treating back pain. Chiropractic works to restore your spine to its normal function--without risky surgery or drugs--and many research studies have established the efficacy of chiropractic for back pain.

If you live in Tulsa and you need care for your back pain, give our practice a call today at (918) 832-7880 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.