If you are currently suffering from back pain, or have experienced it before, you're not alone. The statistics on the prevalence of back-related pain are nothing less than shocking:
Interestingly, most cases of back pain are mechanical, as opposed to being caused by more serious medical conditions such as infection, arthritis, fractures, or cancer. Some are caused by sports injuries or accidents, but others can be triggered by nothing more severe than bending down to pick up a dropped pencil. Still others are caused by misalignments of the spine, neck and joints that have built up over many years, as opposed to being caused by a single trauma.
Most of these conditions can be successfully treated by Doctors of Chiropractic, who use manipulation of the spine and other joints to relieve not only the immediate pain itself, but the underlying causes of it. Over time, chiropractors can help to return your spine and whole body to a more normal state of health, in which reoccurrences of back pain are less likely to appear.
In other words, if you are one of the four out of five people who will experience back pain in your lifetime, you can do something about it. This is important to know, because a survey conducted by the American Physical Therapy Association found that although two-thirds of Americans experience low back pain, over a third of them don't seek professional help for it.
Chiropractic care is a safe, effective, and above all – because it is non-invasive and uses no drugs that may have potential negative side effects – conservative approach to the treatment of back pain. The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research conducted a study of all available care for lower back problems and recommended spinal manipulation as the safest and most effective initial treatment of lower back pain in adults. So if you're experiencing back pain, ask your friends or your primary care physician for a referral to a trusted Doctor of Chiropractic; all you have to lose is your pain.
