Benefits of Chiropractic Care over Opioids

 This is a short video from the Illinois Chiropractic Society on the benefits of chiropractic care over opioids.

CHIROPRACTIC SAVES (OPIOID CRISIS)

Signs Point to Greater Access to Chiropractic for Service Members, Civilian Beneficiaries

 The Department of Defense has conducted several demonstration projects designed to examine the cost and feasibility of chiropractic healthcare services for its beneficiaries. The results of these projects have concluded that it is feasible to implement chiropractic services as part of the military health care benefit, and the resulting patient satisfaction is higher than that seen with traditional medical care. 

Signs Point to Greater Access to Chiropractic for Service Members, Civilian Beneficiaries

Chiropractic Health Care month in Illinois

 October, 2021 has been designated as Chiropractic Health Care Month in Illinois. Every year two million Illinois residents visit chiropractic practices. 

Spinal Manipulative Therapy Far Safer than Opioids for Chronic Low Back Pain

New study from the April edition of the prestigious Spine Journal finds spinal manipulation (adjustments) significantly safer than opioids for treating chronic low back pain. Patients who received spinal manipulation first were 42 times less likely to experience an adverse drug reaction than patients who were first prescribed opioid drugs.

 Foundation for Chiropractic ProgressApplaudsSpineStudy Showing Spinal Manipulative Therapy FarSafer than Opioids for Chronic Low Back Pain

U.S. Physician Recommendations to Their Patients About the Use of Complementary Health Approaches

The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey showed that spinal/ osteopathic manipulation was the was the most common recommended complementary health approach by family and other primary physicians.
Would you be surprised to know that I have received patient referrals from well over 100 medical physicians of many specialities?
U.S. Physician Recommendations to Their Patients About the Use of Complementary Health Approaches

MRI findings in the lumbar spines of asymptomatic, adolescent, elite tennis players.

I ran across this study on asymptomatic elite tennis players with an average age of 17 years old. The study scanned 33 teenagers and only 5 had normal scans! The scans revealed multiple abnormalities in the rest including disc degeneration, joint arthritis, disc bulges, and stress fractures.
Partly due to studies like this and current imaging guidelines, I now order much less imaging than in the past. Unfortunately many doctors rely too heavily on imaging studies. MRI findings in the lumbar spines of asymptomatic, adolescent, elite tennis players.

Back pain one of leading causes of disability

It is easy for some who have never had a severe or chronic back disorder to think it is not a serious problem, maybe because back disorders do not kill anyone...well at least not directly. The reality is that low back and neck disorders are the 2nd most common cause of disability in the developed countries after ischemic heart disease, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study published in the Lancet.
Does this surprise anyone?How Back Pain Took Over the WorldB

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

9 Risk Factors for Developing Sciatica

I have had many patients with more severe sciatica (leg pain from a pinched nerve in the low back) tell me with a straiight face they wished someone would cut their leg off! It can be more severe than back pain because it is a form of nerve pain.
You can decrease your risk of sciatica by working on the nine factors discussed in this article.

9 Risk Factors for Developing Sciatica

The problem with MRIs for low back pain

It seems to make sense that more medical testing gives better results, yet studies have shown that imaging for low back pain does not improve one’s pain, function, or quality of life. One of the big negatives with imaging is that there is a high amount of false negatives, which are incidental findings that do not cause symptoms, and this many times leads to unneeded further testing and failed treatments including surgeries.
So it is counter-intuitive but sometimes less testing is better.
The problem with MRIs for low back pain

A recent study in the journal JMPT shows a dramatic increase of utilization of chiropractic services at the Veterans Administration over the last 10 years.
*the annual number of patients seen in VA chiropractic clinics increased by 821 percent.
*the annual number of chiropractic visits increased by 694 percent.
*the total number of chiropractic clinics grew from 27 to 65 (9 percent annually.
Study: Use of Chiropractic in the VA Rising Steeply as a positive trend for our veteran's health?