What to do about persistent chronic lower back pain?

What to do about persistent chronic lower back pain?

A large percentage of the United States population will experience a significant episode of low back pain before the age of 40. Significant lower back pain is more than the mild pain you get after physical activity like gardening or vacuuming. Significant lower back pain ranges from very severe to excruciating pain and interferes with normal activities such as sleeping well, doing housework or gardening, engaging in work, caring for children and family members, and the ability to care for oneself, from bathing, dressing, driving, and cooking for oneself, to engaging in leisure activities such as golfing, sports, and hobbies.

Overall, the evidence is that back pain will not resolve itself if ignored. For this reason, lower back pain is a controversial topic. Many health professionals and insurance companies still believe that lower back pain is a condition that will resolve on its own within a certain period of time. They also believe that if the pain returns, the patient should just “deal with it” and it will eventually go away.

However, scientific studies do not show that this is the case. Significant lower back pain usually does not go away or resolves on its own. It is not a health condition that should be ignored. For example, a comprehensive research study published in the European Spine Journal in 2003 reported that 62% of patients with a severe episode of back pain still had pain 12 months after onset. The percentage of people who experienced relapses or recurrence of back pain after a first episode was 60%. And 33% of those who suffered from back pain had relapses at work within a year.

Since it is obvious that chronic back pain is a condition that requires professional treatment and monitoring, what is the preferred method of treatment?

Fortunately, this has also been studied and the solution is chiropractic. Chiropractic care is performed by licensed chiropractors. Chiropractors have extensive training in the anatomy and biomechanics of the lower back. They are also able to expertly diagnose the causes of mechanical/physical back pain. Once a chiropractor has examined a patient and determined what is causing the lower back pain, he or she may perform chiropractic manipulative therapy, sometimes called a chiropractic adjustment. Chiropractic manipulations are used to realign the spine and correct abnormal spinal movements.

Two research studies were conducted to find an effective way for patients and physicians to treat chronic lower back problems with chiropractic care. The studies involved a series of patients undergoing chiropractic adjustments three times a week for four weeks. With this care, patients have been able to significantly improve their level of pain and their ability to perform normal activities of daily living. Half of the patients then stopped their treatment. The other half of the patients then received chiropractic manipulation every two or three weeks for nine months. These patients who continued to receive care not only maintained their improvement in pain reduction and daily living function but also achieved further gains. The patients whose treatment was discontinued returned to the pain and dysfunction they initially presented.

Chiropractic care has been shown to be more effective for back pain than medication, exercise or surgery. It has also been proven to be the safest of all back pain treatments as well as the most cost-effective. Consumer Reports has also published information showing that chiropractors have a very high satisfaction rate among patients.

The next step in treating and managing chronic low back pain is to recognize it as a condition similar to hypertension or diabetes and to realize that with some level of periodic chiropractic maintenance or supportive care, we can effectively help patients with persistent chronic back pain.

Inspired by James Schofield