The Global Burden of Disease Project, a massive collaboration between some of the world's best public health agencies, has reported that low back pain is the number one cause of disability worldwide. Some of the highlights from the study reveal some amazing facts:
1. Musculoskeletal conditions such as low back pain, neck pain, and arthritis affect more than 1.7 billion people worldwide.
2. Current estimates state that over 632 million people worldwide suffer from low back pain.
3. Low back pain is the most dominant musculoskeletal symptom.
4. Spinal disorders have a greater burden on worldwide health than HIV/AIDS, malaria, stroke, breast and lung cancer combined, Alzheimer's disease, depression, and diabetes.
There is no doubt that low back pain is not just a problem in the U.S. but across the world and is at epidemic proportions. The amount of money spent on the treatment for spinal conditions is staggering and the current medical model of treatment has simply failed. It's long overdue for us to come up with a new treatment paradigm that includes more focus on conservative treatment and, better yet, prevention. The chiropractic community at large is hoping to lead the world in this approach.
A recent study published in the medical journal Spine has revealed that patients with acute low back pain had a significant decrease in pain and improved physical functioning than those who only treated with their family doctor. Patients who were referred by the family physician showed much better improvements in all pain scales at two and four week follow ups vs standard medical care alone. This is just another powerful study to show how chiropractic care is the best treatment in the world for acute low back pain. We highly recommend all patients with low back pain be evaluated by a chiropractor first, even before a visit to the family physician. Chiropractors are experts at identifying painful conditions that would best be treated with conservative care vs those who may need medication or other interventions. The bottom line is...try chiropractic first. It has been repeatedly proven to be the most effective and safest option. 