Alternatives to Back Surgery

How Chiropractic Care Can

Prevent Back Surgery

Surgery is not something to take lightly. There are numerous possible complications that can occur, even with the most simple and routine surgeries. People that wants to avoid surgery can be given chiropractic options that will help alleviate their pain naturally.

-Greg Paige

New York City

“I came to see Dr. Lou for pain and severe fatigue. After just 3 office visits, my pain decreased and I have much more energy. Dr. Lou is truly a special healer!”

Low Back Surgery

Lower Back Surgery

Disc Back Surgery

Herniated Disc Back Surgery

Avoid Surgery

Lower Back Surgery

The statistics that are available that indicate the complications associated with many surgeries are very surprising and should always be considered before undergoing any procedure. A person should always weigh the necessity of the surgery they are considering and the possibility of a complication. It is also very important to get multiple opinions before making a decision.

Spinal surgery is one surgery that is performed routinely in this country to alleviate their severe low back pain. A patient may present to a surgeon with severe back pain, neck pain, leg pain, hip pain, nerve symptoms such as numbness, tingling, or loss of motor control. Generally, an mri is taken of the lowback and a disc herniation or degenerative disc disease may be revealed.

It is the surgeon who makes the decision on whether he or she feels that it is necessary to operate. This decision is made with consideration of many factors. These factors may include history, prior treatment, the extent of the degeneration, age etc. Unfortunately, there are many unnecessary back surgeries performed in this country and the side effects and problems that a post surgical patient can experience may be irreversible.

Herniated Disc Back Surgery

The most common spinal surgeries that are performed are laminectomies, microdiscectomies and disc fusion. Laminectomies involve removing the bony arches of the vertebrae to relieve pressure on the nerve. One of the possibilities of a complication from this surgery is post-laminectomy syndrome or failed back syndrome.

The symptoms from post-laminectomy syndrome can be worse than the original patient's complaints and include, lowback pain, hip pain, sciatica, leg pain, numbness, tingling, and motor loss.

A microdiscectomy involves the removal of a small portion of the bone over the nerve root and some of the disc material from under the nerve root to relieve pressure on the nerve and provide room for the nerve to heal. Disc fusion involves fusing the disc and vertebrae together. These surgeries can work well at times to alleviate pain, but there can be a high incidence of degeneration of the vertebrae near the surgical sight, because these areas begin to compensate more after the surgery.

The weight distribution is changed and the spinal segments that have been fused no longer act as shock absorbers and the extra weight is transferred to the nearby vertebrae. It may take years for the other areas to have problems, but this may require getting additional surgeries in other areas years later.

Disc Back Surgery

In the 2010 Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 33(8), 576-584, a prospective randomized clinical study was performed by McMorland, Suter, Casha , Plessis, and Hurlbert. In this study the researchers compared spinal surgeries (microdiscectomies) performed by neurosurgeons to nonoperative manipulative treatments, or chiropractic adjustments, performed by chiropractors.

They compared quality of life and disabilities of the patients in the study. All were found to be surgical candidates. The patients all had one sided lumbar disc herniations with nerve symptoms.

Both the surgical and chiropractic groups reported no new neurological problems surfaced and had only minor post-treatment soreness. 60% of the patients who underwent chiropractic care reported a successful outcome while 40% required surgery and of those 40%, all reported successful outcomes.

Of those patients choosing surgery as the primary means of treatment, 15% reported a failed surgical outcome and then chose chiropractic as a secondary choice. Of those 15% with failed surgeries, all were reported to have performed worse in clinical outcomes.

This study indicates that a conservative non operative approach of chiropractic care prevented 60% of patients from needless surgery. Considering that 250,000 patients a year undergo elective lumbar discectomy, chiropractic care is a proven and effective alternative to try to avoid surgery.

There will always be a segment of the population that has such severe spinal problems that surgery is absolutely necessary, but it is important to allow for a conservative approach first and than move towards surgical options if all else fails.

Avoid Surgery

People that wants to avoid surgery can be given options of supplementation that will help alleviate their pain naturally, and help the soft tissue structures specifically the disc to be nourished, fortfied, and to help avoid further degeneration. It is important to look into factors that may have contributed to the degenerative and inflammatory processes in the body in the first place.

These factors may include food intolerances, too much acidity in the body, lack of calcium and mineral absorption, and toxicity. When the body is balanced it will degenerate less because it has what it needs. This can be applied to many disease processes.

Please contact me if you are considering any type of surgery.