Its ironic that for so long chiropractors were seen as the fringe doctors. Now they are the ones with less invasive and cheaper treatments. More greedy mainstream doctors doing more harm than good while getting lots of $$$$.

Why is it this article never once mentioned a chiropractor for treatment of back pain? I Have been going to chiropractor since i was 12 years old. Was diagnosed with migraines, given multitudes of tests, in the end, given a prescription for Imitrex which I could not afford ($100 a pill with insurance). Since I discovered chiropractic, never a headeache since. For all of you people going to surgeons and medical doctors. quit wasting your time and money. They only throw surgeries and pills at you that like the article says "still didn't help!" Find a chiropractor in your town and get there immediately!

And where are the doctors when it comes to prevention? Many people with back problems exercise are do yard work only intermittently, which then strains or injures unconditioned muscles. And many of those who exercise regularly do not do any significant exercises to strengthen the back muscles, which along with the abdominal and oblique muscles are very important for stabilizing the spine and consequently preventing injury in the first place.

And what of nutritional studies. The fluids in the disc include water, muco- and glyco-protein complexes, known to be constructed in part by amino acids such as L-glycine, L-lysine and L-proline. Hyularonic acid is also in this fluid. I have searched numerous medical libraries on the internet and can find no studies indicating as to whether supplementation with all or any combination of these will help maintain the spine in the long term.

And of course, why should there be? There is no financial incentive for a spine doctor to prevent his patients from needing his services.

mir's the day of the injury, gotta have proof for court to get a free ride in life on a workers comp claim. hard work causes a sore back? no way!!!!!!, i think most people have a sore back from sitting on the couch too much.

If it really is back pain, then yes I do believe there's only so much that can be done and it's being overtreated. I personally know 2 people that have had back surgery and regret ever having it. It just seemed to make things worse. I know several other people who have bad backs but just pop pills, rest when it flares up and it seems to be better in a couple of days.. it's not a picnic but they've learned to live with it. I think however, that sometimes other things can present as back pain and there's a far more serious underlying problem. I think doctors should not assume it's back pain. Do the tests, MRI, xray etc. and rule out something else.

Funny...There is ample evidence out there to show the effectiveness of chiropractic care in both improving patient outcomes and decreasing cost associated with back pain so just curious as to the bias about including it in the story. Chiropractors can't fix everything but they sure are successful with the majority of back pain cases. I know I see what they can do in my practice everyday. They need to be the first option for back pain both as the most conservative choice but also as a savings to our healthcare system!!

Mobile county emergency management office: "'People are blowing this thing out of proportion, it's just light crude"

I wonder what prompts a man with that kind of disposition to seek a career in emergency management?

I suspect that the ones behind this story are the insurance companies. I have two ruptured disks and the surgeon wants to remove them and fuse my back. I won't do it and have been holding out until a better method comes along, but the pain in my lower back and legs has gotten to the point I don't think I can hold out much longer. The steroid shots quit working about two years ago and I basically just endure the pain. I don't like pain killers because they only mask the pain and you never know if you are doing further damage. Between the FDA and the insurance companies it is hard to get treatment. Germany has been replacing disks with artificial disks for 20 years and now have top of the line disks, because of their advancements in technology and techniques, but the united states has held this up and we use what Germany quit using years ago. It is all about money and if the insurance company isn't making any money, they are not going to help you.

Have you ever heard of Arachnoiditis?

You think back pain is bad? I assure you back pain is merely a discomfort compared to the effects of Arachnoiditis.

Fortunately you can only get arachnoiditis by having spinal surgery or myleograms on your spine. During one of my 6 back surgeries or a myleogram ordered by my doctor, I ended up with arachnoiditis. It is caused when the spine is nicked by a surgical instrument and scars the arachnoid membrane of the spine.

Now I have real pain. Imagine being electrocuted several times a day. Often the pain is so intense I cannot help but scream out loud. Imagine the effect on life when your walking around in public and suddenly writhing in pain and screaming as if you were just shot/stabbed/electrocuted?

The expected lifespan for someone with Arachnoiditis is around 8 years, the vast majority take their own life. There is no effective treatment. The condition is progressive. Once the scar tissue starts, it grows. Many are wheel chair bound. Several have gone blind once the scaring reaches their brain.

DO NOT HAVE SPINAL SURGERY! Well unless you will experience complications other than pain. I had a neck fusion, which I would do again in the same circumstances. My neck issue was about to make me lose the use of my arm. If you have nerve damage, determined by an EMG, you may have to consider surgery. But anything short of that....Exercise.

Dr. Hoefert, Do you have some statistics that support your statement that Chiropractors are successful with the majority of back pain cases? My thought is that Physical Therapists would make similar claims. I've had back problems for 30+ years and have use PT's and DC's in the past. Both made a difference in pain from muscle spasms when using heat, massage and exercise.

I did finally have surgery on my lower back, and the surgery was very successful. I could stand and walk and felt like I had the spine & legs of a 21 year old (I was 48). Unfortunately, I overdid the exercises and ended up with a tear in the dura and a spinal fluid leak which required emergency surgery. I developed Arachnoiditis in my lumbar spine--what RickMays is describing above.

The DC that I worked with was great, except that he didn't know his "limits" and the last time I saw him he should have sent me to the ER. Instead, he adjusted my back THREE TIMES (I was in tears walking in and almost had to be carried out). I then saw a PT that didn't have a copy of the MRI report and she ended up doing more damage in her assessment. I went through 15 months and as many Dr's doing the pincushion routine of ESI's and facet joint blocks, etc. I tried an implantable stimulator, a pain pump and nothing was reaching the pain.

I'm now a chronic pain patient that takes meds and tries to get exercise by walking in a pool. I'm trying to lose the 40 lbs I gained through inactivity and also to strengthen my core muscles. I am fortunate that I can drive for about 15 minutes and get to the pool and take care of most of my needs. I spend a lot of time in bed because the pain level is much lower when I'm flat on my back. I developed Fibromyalgia a couple of years ago, and also have bits of arthritis in places.

My suggestion to anyone with back pain is to try conservative approach first and to vet every professional and always consider second or third opinions. Surgery should be the last resort and it requires commitment from the patient to follow the post surgical plan.

I had terrible back pain last year. It started with a back injury in my 20's which flares off and on. I am now in my late 40's. My story is actually like a lot of people I know who have undiagnosed hypothyroidism. My sciatica got so bad that my left leg was numb down the left side and back with almost no strength. I did a course of steroids which helped, but did not solve the problem. My doctor, a internist, noticed that my thyroid gland was swollen. Turns out that a lot, not all but a lot, of my issue was inflammation due to being hypothyroid. I am now on cytomel (synthetic T3) and have only the occasional twinge. No more numbness and no more weakness. And it solved my hip pain, which was unrelated to the back pain, which had been increasing in severity over the past 7 years.

My advice, if exercise isn't working (that is what I had always used in the past to solve the issue) is to have your doctor do a complete thyroid workup. Not just TSH, but also Free T4, Free T3, RT3, and thryoid antibodies. If you have Hashimoto's, the most common cause of hypothyroidism, it may not show up in other tests but will show up in the antibodies. RT3 is necessary because your body may not convert T4 to T3 properly, which will lead to a buildup of RT3 which binds to the same sites as T3 but which, otherwise, is biologically inactive keeping T3 from being able to do it's job. It is important to measure Free t4 and Free T3, since total T4 and total T3 won't really tell you anything.

For me, this has been a life-changing event. I sleep at night, I think clearly (no more fog, which I thought was an age-related thing), no more pain.

Everything is overtreated in this country...got a sniffle run take drugs, got a headache run take drugs, there seems to be a treatment or a drug for everything...and if there is no ailment the business will invent it. Watching TV commercials reveals more chronic problems and syndroms then there are pages in a medical journal.

Ever wonder why a pharmaceutical company pays for commercial time to advertise a "prescription only" medication to people who can not write prescriptions???? They put it in your head that you have a problem, they have the cure and you have to go to your doctor and demand it.

Snake Oil salesmen with modern technology. America needs to grow a pair and quit running to the druggist for every ache and pain.

Yet another article trying to convince you that more healthcare is bad and that you don't need all those expensive procedures and whatnot. Coincidence? Don't count on it.

I have had back pain for over six years. I have been to chiropractors (the best was the one I saw in California. I have tried Back2Life, the inversion table, I ice, I use heat, I do core workouts. I've had 3 MRI's and no, nothing is being healed by itself. My back pain has cost me two jobs and plenty of money. But I would NEVER have back surgery. I knew someone who did and they can't bend over or look over their shoulder. I'd rather have the pain than no have the movement. In time you learn to live with it, unfortunately.

And no with no health insurance I just do the best I can. I have 2 jobs to thank for causing me the back problems, and the fact that I was born with only 11 ribs. Thanks Mom!

Another planted news story getting people ready for Obama's RationCare

SpinalStretch works for me. 15 minutes a day and I am loving it!

My reoccurring back pain was getting worse each year to the point of having pain each month.

My doctor never mentioned spinal decompression.

Now if I don't use the device in a few days the pain slowly returns. Using the device every day keeps the pain away. I have been able to start exercising again without waking up the next day in #10 pain.

Try it if you haven't had back or neck surgery.

Guess I'll add my 2 cents: as a physical therapist with 24 yrs. of experience, I agree that there are way too many back surgeries. Can't count how many "failed back" patients I've seen. In some cases I was able to find a soft tissue answer to the back pain; and sometimes the patient was not willing to accept that-i.e., they literally refused to let me treat the source of their pain-and not because the treatment caused pain. Some people really have a hard time letting go of the familiar-not because they want it, but because it's familiar. I would always recommend conservative treatment first unless the person is incontinent or in some medical danger. Surgery always leads to scar tissue and the amount can't be controlled completely. I know people have been helped by chiropractic treatment. I don't know exactly what their training is-just that the philosophy is different from ours. The chiropractors I have worked with personally have not been the most ethical lot, but not all PT's are ethical either. I do know that I personally would not allow a chiropractor to work on my neck because of several articles I read in which people who had had their necks manipulated by chiropractors shortly afterwards had strokes due to compression of their vertebral arteries, which pass through the cervical vertebrae before going into the skull. And no, I have not helped every patient I treated; but I do recognize my limitations, and I have helped many who were not helped by other treatments. We do not continue to treat patients we are not helping.

Use Yoga. That is the best Back-Heal technique

Dr. John Sarno has been talking about this for years people, read his book. How much more evidence do you need?

For the most part, Chiropractors are Quack Doctors.

Again, Sarno explains why back pain and other pain are prevalent today.

My problem with this article is that it downplays the fact that 10% of back/radicular-pain sufferers, which is a HUGE number of people, DO need more dramatic intervention. We are not talking mere aching here. Back/radicular pain can be debilitating and life-changing. Exercise, diet, chiropracty, etc. can be useful life-style changes/treatment adjuncts/modalities, but the reality is that a significant number of people NEED surgery and/or pain management. I am leaner, fitter and stronger than 99% of people reading this article, but for me, back/radicular pain surgical intervention and pain management was essential. For me, back/radicular pain is still UNDER-TREATED!

There seems to be quite a bit wrong with this article. Way too general, and I agree with Greg. There are very different issues out there - that at least the article had the common sense to state - so, lumping 'back pain' into a one-size fits all, is extremely naive.

That is why case studies and research are SO important. There are many out there, but unfortunately this particular media outlet doesn't do a good job at digging into these articles to give people clearer information. It's incredibly disheartening. People come away more confused than ever.

Having worked in a chiropractic office that works closely with MD's and surgeons, that uses only evidence-based treatment protocols (meaning - treatment based on proven studies by MD's, DC's, DO's) to address back pain, and refers out when clearly there is a situation that warrants more serious treatment, I know there are common sense/clear cut processes that work better than throwing yourself out to the nearest health provider's office.

Your job, as the patient, is to do some research as well. I recommend working with a multi-disciplinary group if you can, or, find MD's and DC's who work closely together. That is not as hard a task as you might think. The current trend is moving more in this direction, especially because the RESEARCH is moving in the direction of 'conservative first' for many of the back pain ailments out there. Conservative care could be anything from physical therapy to chiropractic to stretching and strengthening depending on what your diagnosis is and how much degeneration has occurred.

Please, please do your research. There are docs out there who have level heads, have integrity and really do read their own research journals while laying aside their own egos and strong opinions.

1985 I had a nerve burning bad down back of left leg-went to chiroprator and he ajusted my spine and the last visit I could barely walk to car,went to a good doctoer who took the hammer and hit my knees which chiroprator did not,I had no reflex in left leg,he sent me to a neuro doc and stuck neddle in foot and could not feel nothing plus my leg would colsape anda CT scan i had a disc badly ruputered,surgery and i was good after that but left leg was never the same due to nerver being so damaged,in 2005 my low back was painfull everyday and eary 2007 i tried rehab which made the pain very bad,went to spine speacalist and had no reflex in both legs with left one draging,x-rays which i looked at with doc i said o my GOD-i had vertabra out of line pushing into spine-2 of them and a bad ruptured disc,it looked trebbile,mri and off to surgery,had stenosis on top of all the other stuff,spine fussion from l4 to s1 and it kept me from ending up in wheel chair and surgeon said he did not know how i was able to walk before surgery and ever since i have bad pain nad after surgeon treated my pain for a year i was sent to a pain doc who treated me like crap,under medicated me,then took my dad in visit with doc and dad told him your not managing his pain and he up the dose and i yold his ass off for treat me sub human but the dose was just right,did low back rehab,walking and even lifting light weights and went to another pain doc who took me off of what was working and dam it i'm back in bad pain and can't do the stuff-rehab etc anymore,pain doctors suck,they half a$$ treat you but on the right med at right dose i can live anormal life and now I'm looking for another pain doc,taken pain pills does not make you a addict if you have pain,be ware of pain doctors,I just want to live as a normal life as i can,pain will change your life for the worst,i was verbly abuse for 15 month and under medicated by the first pain doc then went off on him and got the right dose but could not come back because i wanted to beat his ass and the new pain doc is very nice but changed what was working and now i'm were i started.Just sent a letter to my surgeon telling him what was going on-we tight and he is suppose to get a pain doc in his office and he said i would be the first patient,i hope i will make it till he get one in his office,i have 8 surgeries on my bones,2 neck with fussion,2 back with fussion,both knees,elbow and arch plus shoulder.I know pain so well,my neck gives me problems but low back is so painfull.

During nursing school nearly forty years ago, both an orthopaedic doctor and a neurologist told all of us students, never, ever, ever, let anyone put a knife to your spine. It doesn't work now, and it still won't work in fifty years!

They were both right! In all my years of nursing, I have never seen a successful spinal surgery, especially of the lumbar type!

I am an ex-personal fitness trainer and competitive bodybuilder. I ran this article on my blog page some months back. Maybe it may help certain readers.----Ray

Do you suffer from lower back pain? Have you been to a Chiropractor and have been found to have nothing wrong with the vertebrae in your lower back? If this is the case then I have a possible solution to your lower back pain.

A good portion of lower back pain is caused by the tightening of the hamstring muscles. Where are your hamstring muscles? The muscle that runs down the length of the back or inside of the thigh. This muscle allows for the bending of your lower leg to kick yourself in the ass. And I have done that MANY times! But seriously, since the very top of the hamstring muscle attaches to your lower gluteus maximus (your butt) when it gets taught and needs to be stretched, it can be the cause of lower back pain until it is properly stretched. So, how do you stretch your hamstring muscles? Simple. Stand straight up with your feet about six inches apart. Now, keeping your knees straight, SLOWLY bend at the waist, arms outstretched towards the floor, and try to touch your toes. If you haven't done this stretch often, it's going to hurt like hell. That's because the muscle is so tight. Do this three to four times until you can touch your toes. That pull you feel at the back inside of your leg is the hamstring muscle being stretched. These muscles tighten up with age and need to be stretched on a regular basis. I suggest doing this stretching exercise every day about one hour after you have awakened. During this stretch, your knees will tend to want to bend to alleviate the pain. Keep them straight or the exercise will not be done properly. Over time, this stretch will become easier to do and less painful. If you have lower back pain and start stretching your hamstring muscles and notice relief, please write in a comment box describing your progress.

I've had chronic back pain since I was 11 (must have been puberty). Have been to chiropractors on & off for 15 years in different parts of the US, and they never fixed anything for me. I'll probably get a lot of flak for this, but I think they are just as much con artists as the surgeons who are scalpel happy. It's in their best interests to keep you coming back, so of course they don't fix anything permanently.

Side note: I was put on an SSRI anti-depressant (Zoloft & Celexa) and no more pain!! It was like a magic wand. Sometimes it's all in your head. Have also used a back inversion table and that helps stretch the muscles.

Also practice good posture while sitting, and do exercises to strengthen. I totally agree with the article's point of doing exercises and physical therapy first. It's usually a muscular problem that causes pain.