Back Pain Facts and Statistics
Back pain is one of the most common pain problems in the U.S. and the world. At any given moment, 31 million people in America are experiencing back pain, and it is the second leading reason behind upper respiratory infections that Americans visit their doctors. Back problems are often the prompt that leads people to visit their chiropractors for the first time, even though doctors of chiropractic also treat many other types of ailments. Back pain can be caused by many different things, and chiropractic treatment can be an effective treatment in lieu of taking opioid pain medications.
Back pain statistics
Each year in the U.S., approximately half of the adult population experiences back pain symptoms. Experts report that 80 percent of people will suffer from back problems at some point in their lives. A majority of cases involving back pain result from mechanical causes and may respond well to chiropractic treatment.
Causes of back pain
Your back is comprised of a complex structure that includes ligaments, muscles, vertebra, muscles, nerves and connective tissue. These individual structures work together to provide your back with support and to communicate via the nerves with the other parts of your body. When these individual structures become misaligned, pain can result. Back pain may be caused by a number of different issues such as sports injuries, strain from obesity, poor posture and stress. Your back pain may also be caused by an underlying disease such as blood clots, cancer, kidney stones, arthritis or bone loss.
Effectiveness of chiropractic treatment for back pain
The predecessor of the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, recommended that low back pain sufferers try spinal manipulation from chiropractic doctors as the most conservative form of treatment first before trying other forms of treatment for their low back problems.1 The agency found that chiropractic care was the only effective and safe alternative treatment to more intensive medical and pharmacological intervention for the treatment of low back pain.
Researchers have found that spinal manipulation is equally effective for treating low back pain as a treatment regimen of medical care combined with exercise. In 2013, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a report that indicated that back surgery should only be tried if all other treatment modalities have failed and recommended chiropractic care as an option for sufferers of back pain.
Chiropractic treatment instead of pain medications
Most people are well aware of the opioid epidemic that has gripped the nation. Many people become addicted to opioids when they take pain medications that have been prescribed to them to treat back pain and other pain problems. Before taking pain medications, people should try alternative treatments for their back pain. In 2017, the American College of Physicians updated its guidelines for treating low back pain conditions, recommending that people undergo a treatment regimen that includes spinal manipulation, massage, heat and cold therapy and acupuncture before beginning non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications such as ibuprofen. Chiropractic treatment may relieve the pain symptoms of people without them having to take medications that can be highly addictive.
Dr. Donna Weigle and the staff at Absolute Health Chiropractic are dedicated to helping our patients to enjoy relief from their back pain symptoms. Dr. Weigle uses spinal manipulation and other chiropractic treatments to alleviate pain symptoms without the need for narcotic pain medications. With the help of the professionals at Absolute Health Chiropractic, you might enjoy better back health and less pain so that you can have a better quality of life.
1. Bigos S, Bowyer O, Braen G, et al. Acute Low Back Problems in Adults. Clinical Practice Guideline No.14. AHCPR Publication No. 95-0642. Rockville, MD: Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, December, 1994.↩
