Conventional medicine is built on treating illnesses with two
tools and only two tools: drugs and surgery. You can visualize a
conventional doctor as a workman who carries only a hammer and a screw
driver. To be fair, they're the absolute best hammer and screw driver
that science can build, and the workman is very, very good with those
particular tools; if you need a nail or screw driven, this is the guy
you want to hire.
But back pain isn't all just nails to be
hammered and screws to be driven. Back pain can be caused by multiple
factors, and each cause can require a different kind of treatment.Would
it make sense to fix everything with only two tools even though that the
problem may require other tools? Would it be better to patch the road
or fix it at its root?
For example, if drugs are used to treat a
spinal misalignment, will that correct that misalignment that is causing
the pain? Or will that just temporary inhibit the pain without treating
the cause? Ultimately, medications are there to just block the pain,
and although this eases the anguish associated with back pain, it does
not restore the functional biomechanics. Even worse, while prescription
drugs can be effective at treating pain, in most cases they can't do
anything to fix the underlying problem causing that pain. This means
that if you want that pain to stay away, you have to keep taking those
drugs until the cause of the pain somehow fixes itself. That's a life
sentence of sky-high medical bills and side effects!
Pain is a
sign that something is seriously wrong with the body, and blocking that
mechanism will only cause more damage in the long run. Wouldn't it be
better to treat the underlying problem and restore its proper function?
And
surgery, while generally more effective at treating the root cause of a
problem, can be even more dangerous. Iatrogenic disease-that is,
illnesses caused by doctors-is currently the number three cause of death
for Americans, behind only cancer and heart disease. Every time a
patient goes under the knife, no matter how necessary, they are taking
their life in their hands. Again, there are certainly conditions where
surgery is the best option, but why put up with the risks of surgery
when there are alternative treatments that can deal with a problem
before it gets bad enough for surgery to be the only option?
In
short, when it comes to back pain, conventional medicine comes at the
problem with nothing but that hammer and screw driver, and whatever the
cause of the pain may be, those are the tools you get. Given the
alternative, wouldn't you rather be treated by someone with a complete
toolbox, a medical practitioner who approaches each problem by its own
standards instead of using the same approach to every malady?
Considering
how inadequate the drugs-and-surgery method is at effectively treating
back pain, is it any surprise that millions of Americans are seeing
Doctors of Chiropractic? Chiropractic medicine, unlike conventional
medicine, isn't about treating symptoms, but about treating people.
Doctors of Chiropractic make use of a wide range of methods and
equipment to treat a variety of problems. After all, chronic disorders
such as back pain result in almost 80% of health care expenditures in
the United States, and chronic disease can't generally be fixed with
drugs or surgery. Chiropractor helps patients look at their lifestyle
and medical history as a whole so they can treat the root cause of
chronic pain-and "treat" doesn't mean "make it go away by taking a
pill."
Let's examine why more and more people are looking to chiropractor to treat their back pain:
Chiropractic is Safe and All Natural
Compared
to the dangers of surgery as described above, chiropractic is
incredibly safe, with injury to patients during spinal manipulation
reported in fewer than one in three million adjustments. Doctors of
chiropractic make use of all natural remedies instead of relying on
prescription drugs, which lead to millions of hospitalizations annually.
The safety of chiropractic explains why malpractice insurance is one of
the lowest of any medical practitioner.
Chiropractic is Effective for Back Pain
The
effectiveness of chiropractic in treating back pain has been proven
countless times. In fact, chiropractic is so effective that the Ontario
Ministry of Health recommended that chiropractic should be the preferred
treatment for lower back pain, with traditional medicine not even in
the running. Chiropractic patients have reported being happier with
chiropractic treatment than traditional medicine in startling numbers,
citing the communicativeness of chiropractor, the low cost of treatment
compared to traditional medicine, and most importantly, the
effectiveness at reducing pain compared to drugs and surgery.
Chiropractic Has Shown to Reduce Hospital Admissions and Healthcare Costs
Doctors
of Chiropractic don't just keep their patients safe when treating back
pain; they actually reduce hospital admissions as a result of their
treatment. According to the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological
Therapeutics, patients who saw chiropractor as their primary care
physician experienced 43% fewer hospitalizations and had more than 50%
reduction of their pharmaceutical costs. Considering how many hospital
visits result in iatrogenic disease, it's not only better financially to
avoid hospitalization, it's a lot safer, too!
Chiropractic is the
not answer to every health ailment. However, for musculoskeletal issues
such as back and neck pain, headaches, and other related disorders, it
is a safer and more effective treatment than drugs and surgery.
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Dr_Tony_Salamay/2267556