Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka Treats the Patient Not the MRI
Why do patients opt for back surgery? Pain. What conditions do they suffer with most that leads them to back surgery? Spinal stenosis. Spondylolisthesis. What symptoms do they want gone? Butt pain. Leg pain. Back pain. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka is available as your first stop to avoid back surgery or, for some, the last stop. For many back-related-pain patients, Sitka chiropractic care does the trick and helps them avoid back surgery.
BACK PAIN SYMPTOMS
Back pain patients report all sorts of painful and irritating symptoms: leg pain, numb toe(s), painful thighs, gluteal pain. (The adage that something is a “pain in the butt” is a preceise description of some back pain patients’ pain! That pain is a more radicular source than degenerative change of facet joints. (1)) And lumbar spinal stenosis is the most usual cause for back surgery for US adults. A study of stenosis patients who have withstood at least 3 years of suffering showed that manual therapy and individualized exercise helped the most patients receive more than 30% improvement in symptoms and 20% in function. (2) Our use of the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management aims for at least 50% relief in 30 days with many patients getting 60%, 70%, 80% and 90% sooner than that! Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka knows Sitka back pain sufferers who would rejoice at non-surgical relief like that!
BACK SURGERY: NECESSITY, COST AND IMAGING
Just how many back-pain patients with spinal stenosis or spondylolisthesis must have surgery? 0.8%. This is reported in a study of 497,822 patients! The surgeon authors of this paper recommended doing decompression surgery without or with fusion sooner to lower the expense of non-operative treatment. (3) Oh my! The cost of a fusion in 2006 was $40,000 (4) and $80,000 to $100,000 in 2013, making back pain the top cause of disability in the world ahead of 290 other conditions. (5) [Chiropractic is reported to be just 2.9% of the cost of back pain management. (6)] Over-imaging has added cost to the treatment of back pain: 1 in 4 (25%) of patients who go to a primary care doctors and 1 in 3 (33%) who go to the emergency room received imaging. (7) And what does imaging add to patient care and clinical outcome? Good question. There is no correlation between MRI findings for stenosis and the severity of pain, quality of life, depression or anxiety. (8, 9) What does boost patient care and clinical outcome? Collaboration between physicians – surgical and non-surgical spine experts – helps chronic back pain patients improve in terms of pain as well as socially and mentally. (10) Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka welcomes such collaboration with you and your healthcare team! Your feeling better is our goal!
CONTACT Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka
Listen to this PODCAST by Dr. Kurt Olding on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson. Dr. Olding shares lumbar spinal stenosis care with Cox® Technic that allowed a woman to continue doing what she loved!
Schedule a non-surgical Sitka chiropractic care appointment with Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka today. Physical, mental and emotional pain relief may be eased and back surgery avoided with gentle, safe chiropractic care at Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka where patient care revolves around the patient not the MRI!
