Back Surgery Odds? 50/50

Backaches and sciatica image.

Did you know that each year, approximately 600,000 back operations are performed in the United States? Did you also know that up to half of these often-unnecessary surgeries wind up leaving the patient with what has become known as "Failed Back Surgery Syndrome?" What’s interesting is, no other surgery has such a syndrome! For instance, have you ever heard of "Failed Appendectomy Surgery Syndrome?"

Failed Back Surgery Syndrome results when a patient experiences pain or some type of physical incapacitation from a back condition that was supposed to have been relieved by surgery.

Poor judgment on the part of the surgeon who recommended the procedure in the first place is often the cause. Spine, one of the world’s most respected medical journals, reported that more than 90% of all patients with herniated discs would get better without surgery by undergoing "conservative" chiropractic care. Spine goes on to say that, "Over time, most patients with disc herniations recover with or without surgery, so that outcomes after five years are similar when surgical and non-surgical approaches are compared..." So what Spine is actually saying here is – it makes no difference whether you do or don’t have the surgery, the results are the same!

Chiropractic care may help you avoid unnecessary, and unsuccessful, back surgery. Already suffering from Failed Back Surgery Syndrome? We can probably help with that too. Call our practice and find out!

Dr. Lanning Asks some important questions of interest to McMinnville residents - Chiropractor McMinnville Dr. Lanning Asks...

Where do most McMinnville residents get their first vertebral subluxation?
Being born in a hospital is a common source of vertebral subluxation. Trauma from forceps delivery has been replaced with drugs, vacuum extraction, Cesarean section and births that are "scheduled" to fit the workweek routines of Ob-Gyns. That's why we recommend a chiropractic checkup for every McMinnville newborn.
What causes vertebral subluxations?
Chiropractors acknowledge three types of stress: physical, chemical and emotional. When the adaptive capacity of your body is compromised, weakened areas along the spine can become involved. Muscles tighten, spinal joints lock up and nearby nerves are affected. The purpose of chiropractic care is to find these areas and restore balance, alignment and motion.