Chiropractic. Pain Relief without the Side Effects
“They’ve taken away my pain medication,” George, an elderly patient worried. “Now my arthritis pain is returning. What am I going to do? I hurt so much, but the side effects could kill me”.
What can people like George do? George, like millions of other arthritis sufferers, is rightly concerned about the safety of a number of anti-inflammatories called Cox-2-Inhibitors. A warning is out about the popular arthritis drug Celebrex, as it increased heart attacks in a recent study. This is the same class of drugs that contains Vioxx, which was pulled from the market due to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke, and Bextra, which had a heart warning added to its label this year. George and people like him are searching for safe pain relief.
Fortunately there are natural alternatives that are safe, and without the life-threatening side effects. First among these is chiropractic care. Chiropractic is the largest drug-free, natural healing profession in the United States. It has been around for over 100 years.
Doctors of Chiropractic are highly trained health care providers. What can a chiropractor do for arthritis and other muscle and joint type pains? Quite a lot actually. Even for people with chronic pain, research has shown a benefit with chiropractic care.
The type of care that chiropractors are so highly trained to provide, has been shown to improve spinal function and reduce pain. A recent study comparing the Cox-2 iIhibitors Vioxx/Celebrex/Bextra to chiropractic spinal adjusting for the treatment of chronic spinal pain was published in July 2003 in Spine. Spine is the world’s number one orthopedic journal. It was proven that chiropractic spinal adjusting was better than 5 times more effective in treating chronic spinal pain than were the Cox-2 Inhibitors.
In addition, the drugs resulted in more patients experiencing adverse reactions, side effects, than pain relief during the study period. Chiropractic spinal adjusting resulted in far superior results with no adverse reactions. Modern chiropractic has evolved over the years to include many ways to safely treat elderly patients, even frail elders.
Other methods some chiropractors use also include nutritional advice as some foods encourage the inflammation that causes pain. Other foods encourage our bodies to produce their own anti-inflammatory hormones. There are safe nutrients now available that further enhance our body’s production of these innate anti-inflammatories. And because our body makes the anti-inflammatory itself, there are no side effects.
Prevention is always worth a pound of cure. Chiropractic care has now been shown to reduce the effects of aging on the spine. Exciting new research proves that spinal manipulation prevents the loss of joint function and the arthritic changes that accompany it as we age. “The benefits of spinal manipulation are well documented in the scientific literature and research continues to establish the efficiacy of chiropractic care”, notes Dr. Howard Ewert, Research Chair for the Massachusetts Chiropractic Society. “However, unfortunately, the media does not adequately inform the public about the safety and effectiveness of chiropractic.”
Dr. Ewert led a dedicated team of chiropractors in compiling supporting research studies for chiropractic care which they shared for the benefit of chiropractic. The tnchiro.org Research library serves as a clearinghouse for the health care consumer. It was also created to inform and educate the allied health professional, the legislator and the Third Party Pay (insurance company) official in making more informed decisions about including chiropractic in a team approach to health.
Help your family and friends learn more about what chiropractic can do for them. Tell them to visit tnchiro.com for research about the benefits and effectiveness of chiropractic. Find a chiropractor near you NOW.