Why do patients opt for back surgery? Pain. What conditions
give them the most trouble 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 here
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 averts back surgery.
BACK PAIN SYMPTOMS
Back pain patients describe all sorts
of painful and irritating symptoms: leg pain, numb toe(s), painful thighs, gluteal
pain. (The saying that something is a “pain in the butt” is a preceise
portrayal 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 endured at least 3
years of pain revealed that manual therapy and
individualized exercise excelled in helping the most patients receive
greater than 30% improvement in symptoms and 20% in function. (2) Our
use of the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management seeks at
least 50% relief in 30 days with lots of patients finding
60%, 70%, 80% and 90% sooner than that! Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka recognizes
that there are Sitka back pain sufferers who would celebrate with non-surgical relief like that!
BACK SURGERY: NECESSITY, COST AND IMAGING
Just how many back-pain patients with spinal
stenosis or spondylolisthesis require surgery? 0.8%. This comes
from a study of 497,822 patients! The surgeon authors of
this paper recommended doing decompression surgery without or
with fusion sooner to reduce the expense
of non-operative treatment. (3) Goodness! 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 before 290 other
conditions. (5) [Chiropractic is reported to be just 2.9% of the expense
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 how does imaging enhance patient
care and clinical outcome? Interesting 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 enhance patient
care and clinical outcome? Collaboration between physicians – surgical and
non-surgical spine experts – helps chronic back pain patients recover
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 discusses
lumbar spinal stenosis care with Cox® Technic that let a
woman 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 relieved and back surgery avoided with
gentle, safe chiropractic care at Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka where patient care revolves
around the patient not the MRI!