Did you know chiropractors have been treating back pain as well as, if not superior to, other health professionals for years? In fact, all of the guidelines published around the world have recommended manipulative care as an initial step for the treatment of low back pain and neck pain.

Statistics indicate low back pain affects over 80 percent of the general population at some time in their lives. Almost everyone will suffer an episode of back pain that demands the attention of a health care professional. Of that number, only about 25 percent seek chiropractic care initially. Why so few? Because they don't "believe" in chiropractic?

In general, chiropractic patients are very satisfied. Here is some research that supports chiropractic care:

At the 17th annual North American Spine Society meeting, three medical doctors defended chiropractic by citing a Harvard study titled "Low Back Pain Patients Significantly More Satisfied with chiropractic than Conventional Medical Care." After researching myths about chiropractic, co-author, Dr. Zigler, MD found chiropractic education is more similar to medical education than it is dissimilar. Dr. Zigler had integrated chiropractors into his multidisciplinary spine center where the chiropractors screen patients for surgical versus non-surgical care.

Another co-author, Dr. Cole, MD, stated, "overall, manipulation has the advantage of reducing pain, decreasing medication, rapidly advancing physical therapy and requiring fewer passive modalities." He also recommends spine surgeons refer their patients to chiropractors.

Consumer Reports lists chiropractic Patients as most satisfied in May 2009. The study showed hands-on therapies were tops among treatments for relief of back pain. The study, which surveyed more than 14,000 consumers, was conducted by the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center. The report states that, "88 percent of those who tried chiropractic manipulation said it helped a lot, and 59 percent were completely or very satisfied with their chiropractor."

Military Medicine June, 2006 chiropractic Services in the Canadian Armed Forces: A Pilot Project Military Medicine 2006 reports on satisfaction associated with the introduction of chiropractic services within a military hospital. A 27-item survey was distributed to 102 military personnel presenting for on-site chiropractic services. The majority of military personnel (94.2 percent) and referring physicians (80 percent) expressed satisfaction with chiropractic services.

For more information, contact Dr. Wendy at [email protected].