Appointment with chiropractor after back injury = lower likelihood of surgery

People who have had a work-related back injury are less likely to have spinal surgery if they visit a chiropractor than if they are referred to a surgeon for assessment, suggests a study published in Spine.

A team from the University of Washington in the US evaluated 1,885 people who had injured their backs in the workplace, and recorded if they had surgery within three years of the incident.

A total of 174 of the group had surgery on their lower back within three years; those most likely to have surgery had greater levels of disability and injury severity.

Surgery was less likely in those under the age of 35 years and in women and, interestingly, in people who saw a chiropractor rather than a surgeon when they first sustained their injury.

In fact, 42.7% of people who first saw a surgeon subsequently had surgery, compared with 1.5% of those who saw a chiropractor.

“There was a very strong association between surgery and first provider seen for the injury, even after adjustment for other important variables,” the researchers concluded.

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