Chiropractic and Low Back Pain
Mention to someone that you are going to see a Chiropractor and they will immediately ask you:
What’s wrong with your back???
Your response to them should be:
I don’t know...that’s why I’m going!!!
I am, of course, just kidding. Well, just a little bit.
You see, I believe that the primary reason most people go to see any doctor is because they want to feel better. I base that on the fact that for the past twenty years I have had every new patient complete an “Intake Form”. One question on the form asks: “What do you hope to achieve by coming to our office?”
The answer - overwhelmingly - has been, “relief”.
Needless to say, there is nothing wrong with that answer. In fact, that is the answer that I want people to give because:
It allows me to begin educating them regarding Chiropractic philosophy.
Let me explain:
When a patient tells me that they want “relief” or “to feel better”, I inform them that they don’t need to come to a Chiropractor to feel better...drugs or shots can (possibly) do that.
I immediately, however, follow that up by saying:
“Perhaps what you really want is for us to find the CAUSE of your lower back pain. Once we have IDENTIFIED the cause, we can try to CORRECT it, thereby allowing your body to not only FEEL better...but to actually BE better.
That is, with Chiropractic care, you will not get some drug that is going to “mask” or “cover up” your problem. We are actually going to address the underlying CAUSE of your back pain.
....Now, isn’t THAT what you REALLY want?”
Needless to say, the overwhelming response is “Yes, that IS what I really want!!!”
Now that I have the patient recognizing the importance of identifying and correcting the CAUSE of his/her Low Back Pain, we can address the obvious question:
What DOES Cause Low Back Pain???
I’m going to keep this simple:
The majority of Low Back Pain can be traced, in my opinion, to two causes:
1) Sacroiliac Joint Instability
2) Lumbar Vertebrae Instability
Before discussing these two causes of Low Back Pain, I must mention that there ARE other causes of Low Back Pain. Fractures, tumors, severe infection, ruptured discs and tore ligaments - although NOT nearly as common as Sacroiliac Joint and Lumbar Vertebrae Instability - can cause Low Back Pain and immediate Medical attention would be recommended. Again, these conditions are much less common and such individuals are usually in far too much pain to even visit a Chiropractor’s office.
Two reasons: First, it was conducted by a major Insurance Company - Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Second, it focused on COST EFFECTIVENESS.
The results, by the way, were great!!!
Not only was Chiropractic more effective for individuals with low back pain, it was less costly. (I bet Blue Cross loved that!)
Here’s the details of the study:
Blue Cross/Blue Shield (BCBS) of Kansas in August 1999, presented a study titled "Lumbago Treatment." The information for this study was gathered from a program called the McKesson Episode Profiler. This data program allowed BCBS to sort the health care statistics of different types of doctors as well as the types of conditions that were listed on the insurance claim forms. Using this information BCBS could determine the cost and effectiveness for chiropractic with what they termed "Lumbago".
The results showed that 38 percent of the patients chose to seek chiropractic care rather than medical care. This was in contrast to the fact that less than eight percent of the doctors in the study were chiropractors. This showed that it took fewer chiropractors to care for more people.
The results showed that chiropractic was more cost-effective than anesthesiology; neurosurgery; neurology; registered physical therapy; orthopedic reconstructive surgery; physical medicine and rehabilitation; and rheumatology. The study also showed that most of the chiropractic expenses 89%, were related directly to patient care, while only 45 percent of the medical costs were related to treatment of the condition with remainder of the costs being for diagnostic procedures.
Additionally, the study deliberately excluded any costs for hospitalization, surgery, or any fees paid to orthopedists or neurosurgeons for costs associated with surgery. Without these additional costs being included in the study, the costs related to medical care were reported much lower than they actually were, and the savings from chiropractic care was actually much larger.
This study confirmed what many others have in the past. Patients suffering from back problems are in much better, and cost effective hands with chiropractic care.
