The Most Disabling Disease in the World

So what do you think could be the most disabling disease in the world today? Diabetes, Cancer, Heart Disease, Malaria, well the answer is no to all those conditions. Lower back pain is the most disabling disease worldwide today.

Here are some facts; effects more people than AIDS, breast and lung cancer, malaria, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, depression or traffic accidents. Sadly in third world country's many people that suffer disabling lower back pain will die from starvation due to the inability to earn and living and lack of a social program to help them. The Global burden of disease is moving away from infectious disease like malaria to musculoskeletal disorders. It effects women more than men, rural more than urban, poor more than wealthy. There is an estimate that in the U.S. if you take health care costs, disability, and lost productivity the result is $250 billion a year which is equal to all the gold in Fort Knox. So what does current research tell us. Well one thing it shows is that the more we spend the worse the patient gets. A study by orthopedist, Richard Deyo, M.D. demonstrated that procedures such as spinal injections were up 600%, opioid prescriptions were up over 400%, MRI's are up over 300%, and lower back surgery is up 220% over the last 10 years. So these expensive procedures are way up but so is the rate of disability it has jumped from 20 to 30%. So what works? Well I know I sound like a broken record but NSAID (aspirin, ibuprofen, and Alleve) spinal manipulation and exercise therapy have been shown to work the best, cost the least, and prevent disability. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Plan has mandated that MDs must send a patient to a chiropractor or physical therapist before they see an orthopedic surgeon or pain management doctor if the patient has chronic lower back pain. The chiropractic profession is currently working with a company made up of researchers, MDs, pain management doctors which would like to try something radically different in the treatment of lower back pain. They want to send anyone with lower back pain to a chiropractor or physical therapist first before seeing a medical doctor. They have suggested that one insurance company alone could save $30-40 million/year out of a lower back surgery budget of $50 million/year. That is quite a bit of savings up to 60-80%. This approach has been attempted and it was found that the chiropractors could successfully treat 83% of the patients that came into their office. The other 16% were referred out to specialists. Out of the 83% successfully treated 95% rated their care as excellent. So we are working on trying to improve care and outcomes. I don't know if something like this will really catch on but I think it is worth a try.

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Suffering from back or neck pain give modern chiropractic a try and call our office at (512) 556-8223.

How about those Headaches?

Headaches are currently the 3rd most common reason for seeing a doctor of chiropractic. Migraine headaches are the most common reason to seek medical care. Over 30 million Americans suffer migraines each year. There is currently some good research on what types of headaches respond best to chiropractic care. Most of the current research suggests that chiropractic care works best with cervicogenic and migraine headaches. It seems that the number of treatments vary from 8 to about 16 over 4 to 8 weeks of care. In a high quality systematic review (the highest standard of research)it was found that for cervicogenic headaches spinal manipulation was more beneficial than physical therapy, massage, drug therapy and no intervention. Most headache guidelines recommend a trial of spinal manipulation over a 4 week period to see if this may help a patient with headaches. This is important to me personally because I suffer from migraines. I will get a headache where I have to go lie down in a dark room and sometimes will vomit before I feel better. I hate them. If I do get regular chiropractic adjustments this goes a long way to prevent them for occurring in the first place. If you know someone who has been suffering have them call our office we might just be able to get them to become headache free.

Addicted to sugar?

Great little video on sugar addiction

Addicted to sugar?

Avoid artificial sweetners and keep sugar to less than 2 Tbs/day

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Where Are You Headed?

"The greatest thing in the world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving." O.W. Holmes

Where Are You Headed?

"The greatest thing in the world is not so much where we are, but in what direction we are moving." O.W. Holmes

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That Pain in the Neck

Neck pain can be a real "pain in the neck." Whether it is from an auto accident, arthritis, or you just slept wrong the night before. The research for neck pain is not as extensive as lower back pain because low back pain is a more common and disabling condition. There is still ample research out there for the neck though. One of the largest studies on neck pain was called the "Bone and Joint Decade 2000-2010 Task Force on Neck Pain and its Associated Disorders." Basically this is a systematic review-meta analysis which is the highest from of scientific evidenced based papers. It is not a new study but a review off ALL previous studies to see if there are some common conclusions. Well for neck pain the Bone and Joint review stated that manual therapies (such as spinal manipulation and exercise)are more effective for patients than other therapies. It also stated that neck pain returns within 5 years in up to 85% of patients. This study also found that surgery for neck pain was not necessary unless you had severe arm/hand pain or a serious underlying pathology. Another study compared chiropractic care to physical therapy or exercise alone for neck pain. It found that the chiropractic group responded better to care than the physical therapy or exercise group. The last study done in 2014 were Guidelines for the chiropractic treatment of neck pain. It found that spinal manipulation along with exercises seemed to help patients the most for acute and chronic pain. TENS units, traction, and laser therapy could not be recommended. So the next time you have a neck pain you may just want to visit a chiropractor. For more information you can call us at 512 556-8223 or visit us on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Benton-Chiropractic-Clinic/170215313076258?ref=hl or our website at www.bentonchiropracticclinic.com.

Is Chiropractic Care Cost Effective?

The U.S. currently spends more money per person for heathcare than any other nation. Sadly we have found that we are not very healthy as individuals. The World Health Organization ranks us 37th in the world behind Costa Rica and before Slovenia. It is obvious that we are not getting our moneys worth. Back and Neck pain has been estimated to be the 3rd most expensive condition to treat in the U.S. behind heart disease and cancer. Since we spend so much it is just a matter of time before government steps in and says what is effective and what is not. There will be a huge fight over it because there are some very powerful groups that do not want change. So how does chiropractic stack up? There has been quite of bit of research on this subject and here are a few examples. In 2007 Guidelines were published by the American Pain Society and the American College of Physicians. These guidelines found that chiropractic adjustments were effective for acute, subacute and chronic lower back pain. A 2011 study looked at the Guidelines and found chiropractic care to be cost effective for subacute and chronic lower back pain and there was insufficient evidence that it was effective for acute back problems. This same study found NO MEDICATIONS to be cost effective for lower back pain. A large study of BC/BS of 85,000 patients found chiropractic care to be 20-40% less expensive than traditional medical care. Another group associated with United Healthcare demonstrated that chiropractic care produced large improvements in disability at low episode costs. Another study in 2010 showed that chiropractors were able to help 60% of those patients who were scheduled to have back surgery. In the U.S. it is estimated that this alone could save $3 billion a year. There have been numerous studies showing that when doctors follow evidence based guidelines for lower back pain (of which spinal manipulation is a very effective treatment) significant costs are saved. Sadly it has also been proven that most MDs are not following established Guidelines for lower back pain. I believe that the average cost of a chiropractic treatment program is about $487. The average cost of a hospital based MRI is about $2500. You can see using a chiropractor as part of your healthcare team can help you put money back in your piggy bank.