Back Pain Overtreated by M.D.’s

If the brakes on your car were squealing, what would you think of your mechanic if he/she did expensive diagnostic testing on your car, then supplied you with and expensive set of earplugs to cover up the squealing sound? Crazy? Yes, but that’s the approach your medical doctor is likely to take when your back or neck sounds the pain alarm on you!
According to researchers at Harvard Medical School, M.D.’s have increasingly been ignoring common-sense guidelines for the treatment of back pain. Instead, they are ramping up the prescribing of addictive narcotic drugs such as Norco, which does nothing to correct the underlying cause of back pain. In addition, the researchers identified “an inappropriate increase in the use of Low value diagnostic imaging that could increase patients’ future cancer risk because of exposure to ionizing radiation.” These findings were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association recently.

It’s not like these doctors shouldn’t know better. Back and neck pain account for about ten percent of all visits to primary care physicians. People are spending $86 billion dollars annually trying to get relief from simple pain.

My advice is for you to consult with a chiropractor or other practitioner experienced in physical medicine. Chiropractors will examine your back by hand, find the source of your pain (likely a jammed area in the vertebrae comprising the spine) and make an adjustment to your spine to correct the problem. No need to mask or ignore your pain, it will go away once you get to the source of your problem!

To your health, Sharon Martinez, D.C.
Chiropractic Advantage, Rancho Cucamonga, CA