Back Pain

Back Pain

Low back pain is one the most common conditions that patient's seek treatment from their primary care provider. According to a study published in The Archives of Internal Medicine in 2009, it is estimated in as many as 70-80% of office visits have been for back-related conditions. Common treatments include rest, ice, over-the-counter medication, and discontinuing activity that exacerbates the condition. More recently, the Agency for Healthcare Research in Quality (AHRQ) found that spinal manipulation was beneficial in treating low back conditions, especially when combined with physical medicine such as therapeutic exercise. In our office we commonly treat our patients with spinal manipulation and a variety of physical medicine modalities, including soft tissue manipulation, and therapeutic exercise which maximizes the patient's response to treatment to reduce pain and strengthen and stabilize the area to limit the likelihood of reoccurring episodes.

Additional studies showing beneficial effects of chiropractic care:

1. A 2011 review of 26 clinical trials looked at the effectiveness of different treatments, including spinal manipulation, for chronic low-back pain. The authors concluded that spinal manipulation is as effective as other interventions for reducing pain and improving function.
2. A 2010 review that looked at various manual therapies, such as spinal manipulation and massage, for a range of conditions found strong evidence that spinal manipulation is effective for chronic low-back pain and moderate evidence of its effectiveness for acute low-back pain.
3. A 2009 analysis looked at the evidence from 76 trials that studied the effects of several conventional and complementary health practices for low-back pain. The researchers found that the pain-relieving effects of many treatments, including spinal manipulation, were small and were similar in people with acute or chronic pain.
4. A 2008 review that focused on spinal manipulation for chronic low-back pain found strong evidence that spinal manipulation works as well as a combination of medical care and exercise instruction, moderate evidence that spinal manipulation combined with strengthening exercises works as well as prescription nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs combined with exercises, and limited-to-moderate evidence that spinal manipulation works better than physical therapy and home exercise.

If you're experiencing back pain, call us today to set up an appointment with one of our experienced doctors at (337) 439-9313