Lower-back pain is suffered, at one time or another, by up
to 80 percent of adult Americans. Next to the common cold,
it is the most common reason men and women visit primary
care physicians. For lower back pain this is some of what
a government report recommends:
- Spinal manipulation by a Chiropractor.
- Low-stress exercise such as walking, swimming or biking,
if the problems are mild or moderate.
- More rigorous conditioning exercises for the
trunk muscles to start and gradually
increase after the first two weeks of pain.
Because back pain is so pervasive in our society, a recent study
published in the British Medical Journal pointing out that back
pain doesn't go away easily, confirmed what chiropractors have
always known. Only 25 percent of low back pain sufferers had fully
recovered 12 months after their first visit to a general practitioner,
the study said. This low number is in conflict with the commonly-held
notion that low back pain episodes go away by themselves after a month.
Doctors of Chiropractic have long understood the cyclic nature of
low back pain, and perhaps this is one of the reasons they consistently
rate higher than MDs in patient satisfaction in this area.
In a recent Gallup Poll, 90 percent of all people who visited a
chiropractor agreed that their care was effective.
(SOURCES: Internet Access, July 1999,
PRNewswire, Oakbay Chiropractic; Chicago Sun-Times, Thursday,
Dec. 8, 1994)
