People with intense neck or back pain that come to my clinic often ask, “Do you think I’ll need surgery?” This is a loaded question and though I cannot see the future, their history and examination will give me the clues I need to decide whether chiropractic will be a good fit for them. If they are a good candidate for chiropractor treatment, I will explain why a conservative route of care is worth it. My words will usually follow a format like this:
If I were a surgeon I’d probably see your condition and say, “Yeah, I think we could do surgery for that.” But since I’m a chiropractor, I see your condition and say, “Yeah, I think chiropractic is a good solution.”
The big difference is the risks, and that is why I recommend doing a conservative route of chiropractic care first. If we do not see the results we want after a few weeks, then we can move up to higher risk options such as injections, medications, and possibly surgery. But if you jump to surgery, which is never a 100% guarantee that it will fix the problem, then you may always wonder: “What if the less risky option would have taken care of it?”
Chiropractic has less risks and is also much less costly. Surgery at one level of the spine can cost $55,000 and the price of just one of the screw assemblies used in low back fusion surgery can be over $1,000. If your chiropractor charges you anything near that much you must be living in Beverly Hills.
Next month we’ll discuss more about how chiropractic care can reduce the likelihood of surgery. See that post here.