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When you hear the word
chiropractic do you think of care for
back and neck complaints? Many people do
and yet the world’s first chiropractic
patient (1895) was deaf and recovered
his hearing after a chiropractic spinal
adjustment. The world’s second
chiropractic patient was relieved of a
heart condition. Thousands soon praised
chiropractic for saving them from
headaches, colds, allergies, asthma,
sciatica, arthritis, seizures, ear
infections, stomach trouble,
gynecological problems and many other
conditions including back pain.
What Does Your
Chiropractor Do?
Your chiropractor is specially trained
to locate and free your body of a severe
abnormality that interferes with your
body’s proper function. It is called a
vertebral subluxation. It is a
misalignment of your spinal bones or
vertebrae that affects your discs,
nerves, ligaments and ultimately, your
entire body. Once your chiropractor
relieves you of a vertebral subluxation,
your body functions better.
Low Back Pain
Low back pain is very, very, common.
About 85 percent of the population will
experience disabling low back pain at
least once during their lives! That’s
almost all of us. The problem is so bad
that, according to one researcher, at
any given time 6.8% of the US adult
population is suffering from an episode
of back pain lasting more than two
weeks. That’s a lot of backs. The
estimated cost of this problem in the US
is over $50 billion a year.
Do Medical Treatments and
Surgery Help?
The standard medical approach to back
pain varies depending on the severity of
the condition. Muscle relaxers,
painkillers, rest and physical therapy
such as traction, diathermy, ultrasound,
hot packs and cold packs, are sometimes
used. These approaches are often found
wanting however. Even bed rest has been
found ineffective for a serious form of
back and leg pain called sciatica.
If the problem doesn’t improve or
worsens then surgery may be performed.
The medical approach is at times
necessary-even back surgery has a place.
But research is revealing that spinal
surgery for acute lower back problems
should rarely be performed. Many of
those who have had back surgery report a
recurrence of their symptoms within a
year or two of the operation and may
return to the operating table. Spinal
surgery is currently a very
controversial (and costly) approach to
low back pain: Over time, most patients
with disc herniations recover with or
without surgery, so that outcomes after
five years are similar when surgical and
non-surgical approaches are compared…In
the end, the decision to operate on a
patient with a lumbar disc herniation
usually depends on patient preference
rather than necessity.
The Chiropractic Approach
Chiropractors have helped millions of
people with low back problems, often
saving them from pain, disability, drugs
and surgery. The chiropractor’s purpose
is to gently and painlessly rebalance
and realign your spine to relieve
pressure on your nerves, discs and
muscles.
Chiropractors have a special term for an
area of your spine that is not properly
aligned and is causing nerve stress: a
vertebral subluxation.
Anyone suffering from a back problem
should see a chiropractor to have their
spine checked for vertebral
subluxations. If they are present, then
the chiropractor will gently and
painlessly correct the subluxation and
release stress on spinal nerves,
meninges, discs, and vertebrae.
If a subluxation exists in your body it
must be corrected. This could make the
difference between life of ease, health
and comfort or a life of pain, disease,
and disability.
Major government studies from the US,
UK, Canada and New Zealand, have
reaffirmed what chiropractic patients
have been telling their friends with
back pain for years: Why don’t you see
my chiropractor? You’ll get better much
faster than from drugs or surgery-and
it’s safer too. For example: On the
evidence, particularly the most
scientifically valid clinical studies,
spinal manipulation applied by
chiropractors is shown to be more
effective than alternative treatments
for low back pain.
The Commission has found it established
beyond any reasonable degree of doubt
that chiropractors have a more thorough
training in spinal mechanics and spinal
manual therapy than any other health
professional.
There is therefore, economic support for
the use of chiropractic in low back
pain… The benefit of chiropractic
treatment became more evident throughout
the follow-up period… Chiropractic was
particularly effective in those with a
history of severe pain… The percentage
of chiropractic patients who were ‘very
satisfied’ with the care they received
for low back pain was triple that for
patients of family physicians.
Why are the results so overwhelmingly in
favor of chiropractic? Because
painkillers, muscle relaxers, Valium,
braces, physical therapy and surgery are
not designed to correct vertebral
subluxations. Chiropractic is!
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