Arthroscopic Knee Surgery is Usually Useless

Good article from sports medical physician Dr. Gabe Mirkin, describing research studies showing that except for acute injuries or cases with locking and/or giving out of the knee, most cartilage surgery is useless.
With this amount of evidence, why do you think the medical physicians continue to perform 2 million of these procedures at a cost of $3 billion dollars per year?

Arthroscopic Knee Surgery is Usually Useless

Even light activity is healthier than previously thought, new studies show

Two new studies with one from Harvard University show several surprising findings, including that light exercise has even more benefits in decreased mortality than previously thought. As a doctor board certified in rehabilitation I will be sharing these findings with my patients. I am always encouraging them to be more active even when they have very painful conditions because we now know that a little activity can go a long way!
Does this surprise anyone?Even light activity is healthier than previously thought, new studies show

Low back pain is number 1 cause of disability worldwide

This Annals of Rheumatic Diseases six year study looked at 117 previous studies and the health and disability data from 187 countries. Overall, out of 291 conditions studied, low back pain was at the top in terms of years lost to disability. The researchers estimate that this problem will increase in the coming decades. As such, the team warns governments and health services to take the issue more seriously than they have in the past.
Do you think this is good advice?
Low back pain is number 1 cause of disability worldwide

Corticosteroid injection for plantar heel pain

t may surprise some, but I treat many non spinal conditions including plantar fasciitis, A recent review of 47 previous studies on cortisone injection for plantar fasciitis ( common cause of heel pain) found that it was no more effective than sham injection (injection of an inert solution).

Has anyone had a treatment that was successful for this condition?

Corticosteroid injection for plantar heel pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Physical Therapy, Chiropractic Back Care Cut Opioid Use, Costs

A recent study in Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open concluded that adding increased chiropractic and physical therapy coverage and other non drug services to insurance plans gave better outcomes, decreased costs, and reduced opioid use.

Physical Therapy, Chiropractic Back Care Cut Opioid Use, Costs

To Combat Opioids, Missouri Medicaid Opens Access to Chiropractic

Missouri has announced that access to chiropractic services and other non-drug pain treatments will now be made available in the state's Medicaid program to help diminish the use of opioids and provide relief for those suffering from chronic pain. 
Illinois cut out coverage of chiropractic services a number of years ago. Do you think it might be a good idea to reinstate chiropractic coverage here in Illinois?To Combat Opioids, Missouri Medicaid Opens Access to Chiropractic

Preventing Muscle Loss Among the Elderly

Sarcopenia is the fancy medical name for loss of muscle fibers. Sarcopenia is one of the most important causes of functional decline and loss of independence in older adults.The good news from current research is that the loss of strength can be greatly slowed down or reversed by increasing the size of the individual muscle fibers by exersice! I am board certified in rehabilitation and show exercises to many of my patients. 
Has anyone gained back lost muscle strength?
Preventing Muscle Loss Among the Elderly

Do I Have To Keep Going To The Chiropractor?

One of the complaints you will often hear about chiropractors sounds like this, “Once you go, you always have to go.” The ironic thing is that it’s more common to hear that complaint from someone who has never actually gone to a chiropractor instead of someone who has.
If you talk to someone who goes to or has gone to a chiropractor, they will tell you the statement “Once you go, you always have to go” is simply untrue.
Have you ever heard this urban legend?
Do I Have To Keep Going To The Chiropractor?

Do Epidural Steroid Injections Help Lower Back Pain?

This is a recent review study from the Annals of Internal Medicine of 30 previous epidural steroid injection studies. It showed only mild temporay benefit overall and no benefit for spinal stenosis (narrowing of the spine).“ESIs are high cost, low value health care,” said Terri Lewis, Ph.D, who is an expert of rehabilitation medicine.
Do you think it would be rational to use more conservative treatments for these patients such as chiropractic and/or physical therapy?

http://nationalpainreport.com/do-epidural-steroid-injections-help-lower-back-pain-8827256.html

What Does Research Reveal About Chiropractic Costs?

To date approximately 30 studies have looked at the cost of including chiropractic care and/or spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) within workers’ compensation, other healthcare delivery systems or multi-disciplinary clinics. The available evidence consistently shows that patients with low back and neck pain who are treated by chiropractors have either similar or lower costs than those seeking care from other providers.
Does this surprise anyone?
What Does Research Reveal About Chiropractic Costs?

Steroid Injections May Increase Cartilage Breakdown

"Steroid (cortisone) injections for osteoarthritis is like Snapchat. Everyone seems to be doing it, and no one is quite sure why."
Most previous studies have not been of high quality and have not shown much benefit. 
The Journal of the American Medical Association recently published probably the best study on this topic. It found no benefit of steriod injections over placebo of saline solution over two years. We have known that steroids are harmful to the joint cartilage and this study showed a significant loss of cartilage thickness in the steroid group.
Has anyone had benefit of a knee disorder with chiropractic or other manual treatments?

Steroid Injections May Increase Cartilage Breakdown

Take the Sting Out of Sciatica

I treat patients with sciatica every day at my clinic. As an avid cyclist, I thought I would post the findings of this new study from Finland which studied 35,000 people. They found a 33% decrease of hospitalization for sciatica in bikers and walkers. This contrasts with a 33% increase with obesity and a significant increase with smoking.
This was an observational study so it cannot show causation, but there are still many documented benefits of exercise on back disorders including sciatica to make it a very worthwhile habit.
Has anyone felt that exercise helped them with a back disorder including sciatica?
Take the Sting Out of Sciatica

Ohio Work Comp Clamps Down on Spine Surgery

The Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation has issued a rule change regarding payment for lumbar fusion surgery, effective Jan. 1, 2018, that in most cases only authorizes surgery after the injured worker has received at least 60 days of conservative care for low back pain. 
This was done after several of their data studies found fusion patients suffered considerably worse outcomes than non-fusion patients. The conservative care can consist of chiropractic or physical therapy or other non surgical treatments.
Do you think this is a good new policy?

Ohio Work Comp Clamps Down on Spine Surgery

For Bad Backs, It May Be Time to Rethink Biases About Chiropractors

Here is another article based on the new guidelines from the American College of Physicians ( national organization of the medical internal medicine physicians) which recommends non drug treatments such as spinal maniplution and exercise therapy as the first options for back pain. This article written by a medical physician reviews the research showing that spinal manipulation (adjustment) is an effective and safe treatment for low back pain.
Does it seem surprising that a national medical organizaiton is recommending non drug therapies as a first step of treatment?

For Bad Backs, It May Be Time to Rethink Biases About Chiropractors

Ibuprofen for people with back pain has no significant effect - new study

Earlier research has shown that acetominophen (Tylenol) is not effective for back pain and opioid (narcotic) drugs are only minimally effective (with significant possible side effects). 
Now a new study from the University of Sydney and published in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases which reviewed 35 previous studies on more than 6,000 showed no significant clinical benefit of ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil, Nuprin)
I have said for many years that if the pain meds worked as advertised, I would have many less patients in my clinic.
Would this info change you decision to get chiropractic or physical therapy treatment if you had a back issue in the future?

Ibuprofen for people with back pain has no significant effect - new study

Chiropractors have top rating of healthcare providers on Yelp

Analysis of 1.3 million reviews of healthcare providers on Yelp including medical physicians, dentists, optometrists, and massage therapists shows that chiropractors have the highest rating at 4.6 stars! 
What do you think are the reasons for these high ratings of chiropractors?
‘Stay Far, Far Away’ and Other Things Gleaned From Yelp Health Reviews

Surgery Not Better for Spine Narrowing, Study Finds

Have seen this result often from surgery studies over the last recent years. This new study is from the prestigious Spine Journal. Long term studies often show no benefit for surgery over non surgery treatment. That is one of the reasons I treat so many patients who have had spinal surgery. I often hear that the pain was lessened after the surgery but then returned.
Has anyone been through this scenario?

Surgery Not Better for Spine Narrowing, Study Finds

Chiropractic Treatment More Cost Effective for Work Injuries

Getting back to the medical literature, here is a synopsis of a recent research study from the June issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 
This study of over 13,000 work related back injuries found chiropractic to be the least expensive of five treatment categories, including more than 50% less expensive than physical therapy.
They concluded that this was probably because the chiropractors followed the research based back treatment guidelines better than any of the other providers.
This is the latest of a long list of studies showing chiropractic care to be less expensive, yet insurers many times think that by cutting chiropractic coverage they will save money.
Why do you think there is this irrational action by insurers?
Employers Need Chiropractic First and Sooner