In our Burton, MI office, we see a lot of people who are suffering from back pain, and a few of these patients have been advised they might need surgery to recover. Fortunately, Dr. Elganainy has helped many people get relief without the need for any type of surgery. The scientific research confirms the results we see in our office. One research study published in the academic journal Spine found that consulting with a chiropractor as your first move in dealing with your back problems may actually keep you off of the operating table.
In this report, medical researchers from Dartmouth analyzed statistics from about 1,900 workers from the state of Washington who first saw either a surgeon or a chiropractic doctor for their back-related issues. They then looked at three years' worth of follow-up medical information to determine whether the subjects wound up having back surgery in an attempt to correct the issue.
What the researchers found was that about 43% of the people who first consulted with a surgeon for their back pain ended up having a surgical procedure 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 results. Consulting with a chiropractor significantly decreases your odds of getting back surgery, plus the chiropractic patients in this report "had lower odds of chronic work disability" and they also had fewer expensive MRI tests.
Let's also take note this important detail: this study was conducted by orthopedic surgeons from Dartmouth College, and published in the world's most influential medical journal on spinal injury.
The Problems with Surgery
Any surgical procedure has risks, but a serious downside linked to spine surgery is that there's a very high rate of failure. 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. Elganainy is convinced that surgery should be the absolute last choice for treating back pain. Chiropractic care works to restore your spine to its normal function--without the need of risky surgery or drugs--and many studies have confirmed the efficacy of chiropractic for back pain.
If you live in Burton, MI and you need relief for your back pain, give our office a call today at (810) 715-7746 for a consultation or an appointment. We'll help get you back on the road to a pain-free life!
Studies
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