Treatment of Work-Related Low Back Pain

Low back pain is one of the costliest work-related injuries in our country in terms of disability and treatment costs.  Despite this awareness, there has been little success in preventing the recurrence of this condition.  In 2011 a study was performed that analyzed the effectiveness of treatment of work-related low back pain, comparing physical therapy, medicine and chiropractic.  The following conclusions were deducted from the study:

• Patients that manage their pain with chiropractic are significantly less likely to have a recurrence of low back pain.
• Chiropractic patients that do have a recurrence of low back pain do so an average of 29 days later than those that manage their pain with physical therapy or allopathic medicine.
• Patients that manage their pain with chiropractic have shorter periods of disability, meaning they returned to work earlier.
• Chiropractic patients have fewer surgeries, used fewer opioid medications and have lower costs for medical care than the other provider groups.
• The reduced recurrence of low back disability is the consequence of chiropractic care.
• No health maintenance care is generally as good as chiropractic care.

When it comes to treatment of work-related low back pain, this study suggests that chiropractic is more effective than physical therapy or medicine.