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The German study compared outcomes among 1,162 patients with chronic low back pain treated with traditional Chinese acupuncture; sham acupuncture; or a conventional approach to treating back pain using drugs, physical therapy, and exercise.Read More

A 1998 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, for example, showed that medical doctors refer their patients to acupuncturists more than any other “alternative” care provider;1 the same study also revealed that 51% of medical doctors believe acupuncture to be efficacious and of value. Read More

A few interesting facts about back pain:

• One-half of all working Americans admit to having back pain symptoms each year.
• Back pain is one of the most common reasons for missed work. In fact, back pain is the second most common reason for visits to the doctor’s office, outnumbered only by upper-respiratory infections.
• Most cases of back pain are mechanical or non-organic—meaning they are not caused by serious conditions, such as inflammatory arthritis, infection, fracture or cancer.
• Americans spend at least $50 billion each year on back pain—and that’s just for the more easily identified costs.
• Experts estimate that as many as 80% of the population will experience a back problem at some time in our lives.

What Causes Back Pain?

The back is a complicated structure of bones, joints, ligaments and muscles. You can sprain ligaments, strain muscles, rupture disks, and irritate joints, all of which can lead to back pain. While sports injuries or accidents can cause back pain, sometimes the simplest of movements—for example, picking up a pencil from the floor— can have painful results. In addition, arthritis, poor posture, obesity, and psychological stress can cause or complicate back pain. Back pain can also directly result from disease of the internal organs, such as kidney stones, kidney infections, blood clots, or bone loss.

Manipulation as a Treatment for Back Problems

Used primarily by Doctors of Chiropractic (DCs) for the last century, manipulation has been largely ignored by most others in the health care community until recently. Now, with today’s growing emphasis on treatment and cost effectiveness, manipulation is receiving more widespread attention.

Chiropractic spinal manipulation is a safe and effective spine pain treatment. It reduces pain, decreases medication, rapidly advances physical therapy, and requires very few passive forms of treatment, such as bed rest.

In fact, after an extensive study of all currently available care for low back problems, the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research—a federal government research organization—recommended that low back pain sufferers choose the most conservative care first. And it recommended spinal manipulation as the only safe and effective, drugless form of initial professional treatment for acute low back problems in adults.
The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) urges you to make an informed choice about your back care. To learn more about how chiropractic manipulation may help you, contact a Doctor of Chiropractic in your area. Search our online database of ACA members to find a doctor of chiropractic near you.

Tips to Prevent Back Pain

• Maintain a healthy diet and weight.
• Remain active—under the supervision of your doctor of chiropractic.
• Avoid prolonged inactivity or bed rest.
• Warm up or stretch before exercising or other physical activities, such as gardening.
• Maintain proper posture.
• Wear comfortable, low-heeled shoes.
• Sleep on a mattress of medium firmness to minimize any curve in your spine.
• Lift with your knees, keep the object close to your body, and do not twist when lifting.
• Quit smoking. Smoking impairs blood flow, resulting in oxygen and nutrient deprivation to spinal tissues.
• Work with your doctor of chiropractic to ensure that your computer workstation is ergonomically correct.

References:
Jensen M, Brant-Zawadzki M, Obuchowski N, et al. Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Lumbar Spine in People Without Back Pain. N Engl J Med 1994; 331: 69-116.
Vallfors B. Acute, Subacute and Chronic Low Back Pain: Clinical Symptoms, Absenteeism and Working Environment. Scan J Rehab Med Suppl 1985; 11: 1-98.
This total represents only the more readily identifiable costs for medical care, workers compensation payments and time lost from work. It does not include costs associated with lost personal income due to acquired physical limitation resulting from a back problem and lost employer productivity due to employee medical absence. In Project Briefs: Back Pain Patient Outcomes Assessment Team (BOAT). In MEDTEP Update, Vol. 1 Issue 1, Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Rockville, MD, Summer 1994.
In Vallfors B, previously cited.
Time to recognize value of chiropractic care? Science and patient satisfaction surveys cite usefulness of spinal manipulation. Orthopedics Today 2003 Feb; 23(2):14-15.
Bigos S, Bowyer O, Braen G, et al. Acute Low Back Problems in Adults. Clinical Practice Guideline No.14. AHCPR Publication No. 95-0642. Rockville, MD: Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Public Health Service, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, December, 1994.

Chiropractic Adjustments

Chiropractic Adjustments return joints to their proper motion and position allowing your body to regain its lost function. This often relieves pain caused by inflammation trapped within the joints and reduces strain on tight, fatigued and spasmed muscles. Chiropractic adjustments are also effective in reducing pressure on “pinched” nerves and joint irritation often associated with headaches.

Muscle Therapy

Muscle Therapy following an auto accident is beneficial at reducing the pain associated with muscle spasms and is also effective at preventing muscle inflammation from converting to scar tissue within the muscle (one of the prime contributions to chronic pain following an accident).

Ice and Medications

Ice, anti-inflammatory medications (Advil, Ibuprogen, Motrin, Alleve), painkillers and muscle relaxants can offer short-term relief, but do not address the source of the pain. These methods only mask the symptoms and can sometimes be harmful especially if it allows the injured person to perform activities that should be avoided until significant healing has occurred. Remember: Pain and muscle spasms are both protective responses that attempt to prevent further damage.

All subluxations are caused by stress that overwhelms the body’s resilience and coping ability. Physical stress can occur as the result of a car accident or slipping on an icy sidewalk, improper posture, occupational trauma, or birth trauma. Emotional stress can be the result of significant emotional trauma or the inability to adapt to a stressful situation. Chemical trauma can result from the use of prescription or illicit drugs, inadequate nutrition, or environmental toxins. By interfering with the central nervous system, vertebral subluxations interfere with normal function, reducing your body’s ability to self-regulate, adapt, and heal.

Another misconception is that chiropractic care involves a few quick treatments, again usually seen as popping the back, which will fix the disc. Instead, chiropractors who treat disc conditions integrate their low force adjusting techniques in an organized protocol of evaluation and treatment.

Throughout a program of chiropractic care for disc conditions, patients are asked questions regarding their progress. Evaluation of progress using neurological and chiropractic tests based on comparison with the initial findings are essential aspects of this chiropractic protocol.

A subluxation is a condition where a spinal bone (vertebra) is out of place enough to put pressure on a nerve and affect the message it is carrying. If that nerve is going to your stomach, then your stomach malfunctions and you get indigestion, acid reflux or any number of problems. The most common complaint is pain. Symptoms can occur anywhere in the body, the most common being headaches and back pain. Now, while Doctors of Chiropractic want you to feel better as soon as possible, it is not the pain that we are treating. We find the source of your pain (the subluxation) and adjust your spine accordingly.

When your spine is subluxation-free, your brain has full communication with the body and is able to more effectively coordinate the healing process. When your body begins to heal, the pain (the warning sign) disappears. Often times the body needs specific stretches and exercises and the raw materials (a good diet and appropriate supplementation) to properly heal.

There are many different techniques Chiropractors utilize to evaluate and adjust your spine. Dr. Kim’s technique is extremely specific, very gentle, and gets great results. If you feel you’re a candidate for pinched nerve treatment, browse our website to learn more and then give us a call to schedule your spinal check up.

By far, most people get tension-type headaches and get them frequently. They typically suffer mild to moderate pain, on both sides of the head, that is often described as tight, stiff, constricting – like having something wrapped around your head and pressing tightly.

Migraines are periodic severe, throbbing headaches that afflict far fewer people (and more women than men), usually hurt on one side of the head, can cause loss of appetite, nausea and even vomiting, and may involve a visual change called an aura.

Cervicogenic headache is a muskuloskeletal form of tension-type headache (which may also be related to migraines). Many times, cervicogenic headache goes undiagnosed as such due to the relative newness of this classification.

Dr. Kim has had considerable success relieving the cause of headache pain and releasing headache sufferers from the dangerous vicious circle of taking ever-larger doses of ever-stronger painkillers that may even be causing new and worse headaches.

Chiropractic adjustments have shown to be as effective and even more effective than medications in reducing the severity and frequency of headaches. Chiropractic is particularly successful dealing with cervicogenic headache. Even though cervicogenic and other tension-type headaches may not actually involve stress or muscle tension, chiropractic’s ability to adjust spinal abnormalities seems to lessen or remove the forces contributing to many individuals headache pain.