So you thought your back pain would go away by itself…

A recent study involving sufferers of low back pain in the British Medical Journal (2/05/98), contradicted the previous claim in the BMJ that back pain resolved itself naturally. A follow up found that 91% of those in the survey were still experiencing back pain 12 months later.

Make no mistake; if you have low back pain, you have a problem.

Most low back pain is the result of an injury. Sometimes these injuries happened years ago. I often have patients tell me that they have had low back pain before, but it has “always gone away”. This is usually the worst type of problem. Our body uses pain to tell us that we have a problem. (I promise the problem is not a shortage of Motrin in your body!) In our infinite wisdom, we take the drugs, cover up the back pain without fixing the problem, and our back pain temporarily goes away. We think we are fine, until it happens again and it always does. This time the back pain is a little worst and takes longer to go away and we continue this insanity until the problem is severe.

What causes low back injuries resulting in low back pain?

There are many ways low back injuries occur. The more important question is what do I do now?

Few GP’s will admit, as Dr Phil Hammond does in his book Trust Me I’m A Doctor that “they are not very good at treating back pain”. Most GP’s are reluctant to refer outside the NHS, even though chiropractors are specially trained to identify and advise on the specific cause of your spinal dysfunction (back pain). The bones of your spine protect the spinal cord as well as the nerve roots, sometimes they lose their normal motion or position (vertebral subluxation complex), and this can irritate the nerves that branch off the spinal cord to all the tissues of your body, resulting in back pain being experienced.

In order for the spine to be flexible, the vertebrae are joined together by soft tissue structures known as discs. Each disc is made up of two parts – a central soft core and outer rings of tough cartilage. The discs allow movement and also help to absorb shock. A slipped disc is the rather inaccurate term used to describe the condition, often in the lower back, where trauma or ‘wear and tear’ have caused damage to the outer rings of cartilage, so that the core is squeezed outwards. This can result in a bulge which can press on the spinal cord, the nerve root or the nerve itself. It can cause excruciating back pain, or referred elsewhere – for example in the lower leg or foot. Over my 22 years in practice, I have developed techniques that mobilize the spine to reduce any pressure around the spinal cord or nerves; offering patients not only back pain relief, but correction of the problem that is causing the back pain.

Do Medical Treatments and Surgery help?

The medical approach is at times necessary – even back surgery has a place. But according to some studies, most spinal surgery for acute lower back pain should be rarely performed. Many people who have had back surgery report a recurrence of their back pain within a year or two of the operation and may return to the operating table. In some cases the surgery makes no difference in their back pain whatsoever, and in some cases it does not give long-term relief.

The Chiropractic Approach:

Barton Chiropractic in Concord has helped thousands of people with low back pain, saving them from pain, disability, drugs and surgery. The approach at Barton Chiropractic in Concord is to make your spine and its nerves, discs ligaments and muscles healthier, stronger and more stable by correcting your vertebral subluxation. Anyone suffering from back pain should contact Barton Chiropractic in Concord to make sure they have no subluxations and have them corrected with a chiropractic adjustment if necessary. This may make the difference between a life of ease, health and comfort and a life of back pain, disease and disability.

What did the Government Studies reveal?

Major government studies from the US, Canada and UK have reaffirmed what chiropractic patients have been telling their friends with back pain for years: “Why don’t you see my chiropractor? You’ll get better much faster than from drugs or surgery- and it’s safer too.

In 1991 the Medical Research Council established chiropractic as one of the preferred and most effective methods of care for acute low back pain. “Chiropractic almost certainly confers worthwhile long term benefits in comparison with hospital outpatient management”. “If all these patients were referred for chiropractic instead of hospital treatment, the annual cost would be a reduction of some 290,000 days in sickness absence during 2 years, saving about 13 million in output and 2.9 million in social security payments”. British Medical Journal, June 2nd 1990 - www.chiropractic-uk.co.uk.

A panel of medical experts spent 2.5 years reviewing nearly 4,000 studies and reported that expensive tests (MRI, CAT scans) and therapies typically used to diagnose and treat acute lower back pain are largely useless. Instead the experts recommended the non-drug chiropractic approach.

The Manga Report commissioned by the government of Ontario in Canada, found that chiropractic care for patients with low back pain is superior to medical care in terms of safety, scientific evidence of effectiveness, cost and patient satisfaction.

Chiropractic is better for you!

Studies have shown chiropractic works better, is safer and less costly than standard medicine for lower back pain.Why are the results so overwhelmingly in favor of Barton Chiropractic in Concord? Because Drugs (painkillers, muscle relaxants, Valium…), physical therapy and surgery are not designed to correct vertebral subluxation only cover up your back pain and allow you to die more comfortably. Call us today at 925 685-2002 to make an appointment. We Can Help You!



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In almost all cases, back pain is nothing to worry about. It often comes because we sit or turn awkwardly, or lift something a little too heavy for us. Over a week or so, it then slowly goes away. If you go back twenty years, the standard recommendation was that you rest. This is now accepted as wrong. In fact, you need to maintain as normal a lifestyle as possible, staying active and working through the pain. If that pain becomes more than a background distraction, the drug of choice is ultram to relieve the discomfort and allow you to continue moving around. Only if the pain persists or grows more acute should you worry and see your local healthcare provider. To help you understand this advice, the spine is made up of multiple parts called vertebrae which are held together by muscles and ligaments. To prevent the bones from rubbing together, there are soft discs between each pair of vertebrae which allow flexible movement. Inside the spinal cord are the nerves which carry messages from one part of the body to another. In the most common type of back pain, there is no real underlying disease or disorder. It’s usually a muscular or ligament sprain, or a minor problem with a disc. There are no medical tests to identify where these problems are coming from. A physician cannot “see” which muscles have been stretched a little too far. All that can be said is that something has gone wrong and you now have to adapt the way in which you move to compensate for the difficulty. At such times, ultram is useful to keep you moving. If you rest, the muscles are likely to stiffen and further restrict your movement. In about 5% of cases, there is a problem with one of the nerves that is pinched or trapped between vertebrae. You know about this almost immediately because the pain is not localized in the back but travels down one leg, giving a sensation of “pins and needles” called sciatica. A part of the cause of the pain may be an inflammation or movement in one of the discs. In either case, a painkiller such as ultram is all that is required as treatment, sometimes combined with a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) or a corticosteroid. The combination with NSAIDs is more often required in the less common cases where the cause of pain is arthritis, i.e. an inflammation of the joints. In less than 1% of cases, there may be problems with the bone itself, an infection or a tumor. These require more than mere painkillers.



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