Avoid Sciatica Surgery With Chiropractic

Dr. John Nowak works with many sciatica patients here in our South Buffalo office, and many of these patients were afraid that they might need surgery to relieve their pain. The latest research indicates that many people don't need surgery for this common problem, and that chiropractic is more effective at clearing up sciatic nerve pain.

A typical surgery for sciatica is microdiscectomy, and in a 2010 study, physicians looked at 80 patients with sciatica who were referred for this operation.

Forty patients were then randomly placed in one of two groups. The first group was to receive surgical microdiscectomy and the second group received chiropractic care.

Both groups improved; however, no noticeable difference in outcome was recorded one year post-treatment between the surgery group and the chiropractic group. Additionally, around 60 percent of the participating subjects who could not find assistance from any other treatment approach "benefited from spinal manipulation to the same degree as if they underwent surgical intervention."

Put another way, chiropractic delivered the same positive benefits as surgery without needing to go through the higher levels of surgery-based pain or suffer through extended recovery times often associated with that type of treatment option. Additionally, you also don't run the risks linked to surgical microdiscectomy, which includes nerve root damage, bowel or bladder incontinence, bleeding, or infection.

Surgery should be the last option for sciatica pain. If you live in South Buffalo and you're being affected by back pain or sciatica, give Dr. John Nowak a call today at (716) 825-4121. We'll help determine the origin of your pain and work hard to get you relief.

References

• McMorland, G et al. Manipulation or microdiskectomy for sciatica? A prospective randomized clinical study. Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics 2010;33(8):576-584.
• Solberg TK, Nygaard OP, Sjaavik K, Hofoss D, Ingebrigtsen T. The risk of "getting worse" after lumbar microdiscectomy. European Spine Journal 2005;14(1):49-54.