Research

Back pain is a widespread health problem across Australia. You don’t have to be lifting heavy boxes or sitting all day in an office chair before you decide to seek chiropractic care – everyone can benefit from improving posture and spinal health, regardless of age. Back problems are among the top three causes of years of working lost due to disability.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has calculated that 1.8 million Australians – almost 10% of the population – suffer back problems. The Institute states that many back problems commence in the 15-34 age group. People with back problems were two and a half times as likely to have disorders such as depression.

This is a really serious problem – estimated to force 280,000 Australians into early retirement annually and costing the economy $12 billion. Chiropractors, who spend five years studying spinal health at university, are the first choice of health professional for many patients with back complaints.
Expert US Doctors recent recommended chiropractic care as a form of treatment for lower back pain in a 2013 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

A 2011 study by independent consumer advocacy group Consumer Reports surveyed 45,000 people and found that 65% of patients who used chiropractic care for back or neck pain stated that it had ‘helped a lot’, outranking all other treatments included in the survey, including prescription medication.

A recommended approach to health care

In 2007, researchers from the American College of Physicians and the American Pain Society. Recommended spinal manipulation as a treatment for both acute and chronic back pain.

In addition, a 2004 article in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that chiropractic care may actually lower the overall cost of health care provision