Low back pain is very common, with a lifetime probability of about 85%.  That means 85% of people have low back pain at some point in their lives. A person has options when it comes to treating low back pain.  Usual medical care includes using different types of medications, steroid injections, and referring to physical therapy.  One kind of medication that is sometimes used to treat low back pain is opioids (like oxycontin, percocet, vicodin, etc.)  There is a major opioid crisis in our country right now.  They have been overprescribed and are being abused at epidemic rates. There is an urgent need to find low-risk alternatives to opioid prescriptions.  One of these alternatives is chiropractic care.  

There’s a research study that was recently published (Goertz et al., (2018) JAMA Open Network) studying the relationship of chiropractic care and usual medical care in regards to low back pain.  Half of the study participants received usual medical care for their back pain, and the other half received chiropractic care along with usual medical care.  Which group do you think fared better?

Those who received usual medical care along with chiropractic care reported greater improvement in pain than those who received only usual medical care.  

What does this ultimately mean?

Medical doctors and chiropractors working together can result in better patient outcomes!