Try Chiropractic First - Avoid Costly, Risky Surgery

I read an article in last Wednesday’s San Jose Mercury News that spinal surgery is on the rise for Medicare patients. This was based on a Medicare study that showed spinal fusion surgeries are on the rise and they are often done unnecessary. The main reason state for the operation is for arthritis and aging or just plain old back pain. The focus of the article is that more spinal fusions are being done rather than simple decompression surgeries as in the past. The difference is that decompression costs about $20,000.00 and the fusion costs $80,000.00 plus it is riskier and more challenging leading to more complications, longer hospital stays and even death, the article goes on to say.
The really interesting thing is that the spinal fusion surgery is no more effective than the less costly surgery, and there is “no good evidence that the expensive one is being used appropriately in the majority of cases.” The study goes on to say that the cost to Medicare, just for the hospital charges for the three kinds of back surgery reviewed, is about $1.65 billion per year. The study analyzed 32,000 Medicare patients who had one of the three kinds of surgery in 2007.
When talking about complications the article stated that about 5 in 100 patients who had simple or complex fusions suffered major complications such as stroke compared to 2 in 100 with decompressions. The risk of death within 30 days after surgery was 6 in 1000 for complex fusions, 5 in 1000 for simple fusions and 3 in 1000 for decompressions.
The article also says that patients should ask their doctor about alternatives such as steroid injections or physical therapy.  No mention of chiropractic!!
What bothers me most about this article is that nowhere chiropractic is mentioned! This is outrageous since it has been shown over and over that chiropractic is the safest and most effective treatment for back pain and has the highest levels of patient satisfaction and has the least complications and is the most cost effective of conventional treatments. Additionally, the risk of death is between 3-6/1000 and 2-5/100 for serious complications such as a stroke. The most common complication is from chiropractic is occasionally some temporary soreness. How would like to go to your doctor and have him tell you that you had a 2-5% chance of having a stroke from this procedure and a 0.5% chance of dying!!! Would you not opt to try chiropractic first?

Let’s hope everyone reads this article and uses chiropractic as first choice rather than a last resort.