This document discusses low back pain and sciatica. It notes that low back problems are the most common cause of doctor visits each year, with 8 out of 10 people experiencing low back pain at some point. Low back pain results in more lost work days than any other physical affliction for those under 45. While back pain affects adults, 51% of school children also report suffering from low back pain. The primary causes of back pain are misalignments of the spine putting pressure on nerves, as well as bulging discs. Sciatica, a condition causing leg pain, weakness, or numbness, is often caused by low back problems irritating the sciatic nerve. Common treatments for back pain include drugs, surgery, or physical

1. Low Back
Pain and
Sciatica

2. Low back problems account
for more than 12 million visits
to doctors each year.
Source: American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, www.orthoinfo.aaos.org.

3. According to the American
Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons,
8 out of 10 people
will experience low
back pain at some
point in their lives.
Source: American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, www.orthoinfo.aaos.org.

4. Besides the common
cold, low back pain
results in more lost
work days than any
other physical
affliction in persons
under the age of 45.
Source: American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, www.orthoinfo.aaos.org.

5. Back pain not only affects
adults but children as well.

6. According to a recent study in the
Scandinavian Journal of
Rehabilitative Medicine, nearly
51% of school children suffered
from low back pain.
Significant risk factors included:
age, gender, amount of time spent
in front of the TV and
involvement in competitive sports.
Source: Kids Need Chiropractic, Too, P. Fysh, D.C.; ChiroWeb.com, www.chiroweb.com.

7. Low Back Pain is the most
common type of back pain
due to the fact that the lower
back supports the majority of
your body weight.
For this reason it is the second
most common cause for
Americans to see a doctor.
Source: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003108.htm

8. Low back problems
can lead to nerve
irritation. When the
nerve involved goes
down the leg, a
condition called
Sciatica can develop.

9. Sciatica is a condition
involving pain, weakness,
numbness, or tingling in
the leg. It is caused by
injury to or compression
of the Sciatic nerve.
Source: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000686.htm

10. According the Academy
of Orthopedic Surgeons,
Sciatica is most likely to
occur around ages 30-50
and about 80-90 percent
of people get better
without surgery.
Source: AAOS, American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.com

11. The primary cause of
back pain comes from
misalignments of the
spine causing swelling
and pressure on the
nerves that exit the
spine.

12. When a segment of the
spine, called the vertebra,
becomes misaligned, it
causes a condition called a
sub (minor) luxation
(dislocation) or Subluxation.

13. Another cause of back
pain is the bulging of a
disc. A disc is the pad
that sits between the
bones of the spine so they
do not rub each other.

14. Discs can bulge or protrude
onto nerves with direct nerve
pressure causing pain.

15. Pain anywhere in the body is
caused by nerve endings that
become excited or irritated.

16. Why do so many
Americans have
problems with
their backs?

17. There are four reasons:
• Lack of exercise
• Poor posture
• Physical trauma
• Emotional stress
All are aggravated if
you are overweight.

18. There have been thousands
of studies outlining the
benefits of regular exercise.

19. Unfortunately,
Americans continue
to avoid exercise,
thinking it might
exhaust them. The
opposite is true.

20. Anyone who exercises
will tell you they actually
have more
energy.

21. What’s the result of all
the sitting, relaxing and
watching TV rather than
being active?

22. Statistics don’t lie. Thirty-one million
Americans have low back pain at any
given time. Each year, one half of all
working Americans admit to varying
degrees of back pain. One third of all
Americans over age 18 had a back
problem in the past five years, severe
enough for them to seek professional
help. The cost of this care is estimated
to be a staggering $50 billion yearly.
SOURCE: The Marion Star, January 15, 2005, by Dr. Todd Joachim, Guest Columnist

23. One in six adults suffers from chronic
back pain. The North American Spine
Society surveyed 1,014 adults with back
pain about the condition of their backs
within the past 30 days. 64% of women
and 50% of men experienced back pain.
Nearly 33% reported difficulty lying in
bed, 22% said it was uncomfortable to
drive, more than 25% of respondents
said back pain made it too difficult to
engage in vigorous physical exercise and
32% were unable to lift heavy objects.
SOURCE: Maumee Bay Health Online: Jan. 17, 2005, “Back Pain Epidemic”

24. Poor posture is the
second cause of
back problems.

25. The proper shape of the
spine has four curves.

26. Your body
has curves
so you can
spring when
you walk.

27. You can lose
the normal
curves of the
spine through
accidents, lack
of exercise or
poor posture.

28. Bad habits such as
slouching, watching
TV in unusual
positions, and
failure to exercise
contribute to
improper posture.

29. Gravity exerts pressure
down on the body. When
the spine is misaligned,
the force of gravity can
cause wear and tear on
spinal joints leading to
inflamed nerves and pain.

30. Physical trauma such
as lifting heavy objects,
car accidents and even
childhood playground
injuries can affect you
years after the incident.

31. The American Chiropractic Association
recently ranked the jobs that are most
likely to contribute to the onset of back
pain:
• Truck drivers: Drivers are subjected to
constant compression and vibration as
well as prolonged sitting.
• Construction workers and landscapers:
These workers are subjected to awkward
positions, heavy lifting, repetitive motion,
twisting and turning.

32. • Emergency personnel: Prolonged
sitting, sudden movements, carrying
heavy loads and equipment, etc.
• Farmers and delivery drivers: These
workers are subjected to heavy lifting.
• Nursing home workers: Lifting
patients can cause these workers to
twist their backs, lose their balance,
and
make
sudden
reactionary
movements that may result in injury.
SOURCE: Ergonomics Today, October 15, 2004; eTrucker, www.etrucker.com, 2004.

33. Spinal trauma can affect us from a young
age up through adulthood.
Dr. Tassell, President of the Chiropractic
Association of Australia, said, “Parents
need to be better educated on the effects
of playground injuries and poor posture
on growing spines. Unless these injuries
are addressed, they may suffer long term
recurring back problems throughout
their adult years.”
SOURCE: www.caa.com.au/media/info

34. According to a recent study in the Journal of
Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics,
researchers selected children suffering from
low back pain. Nearly 50% of the pain was due
to trauma, such as sports-related injuries.
They were diagnosed with subluxations, and
when treated, 90% of the children reported
significant improvement.
SOURCE: Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, 2003:26(1), pp.1-8

35. Stress is also a factor. A recent study by
the American Journal of Public Health
showed that the psychological stress a
person is subjected to early in life can
cause low back pain a decade later.
This study shows that there is more than
just ergonomic or physical causes of
stress.
SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health, October 2001, Vol. 91, No. 10, pp. 1671-1678

36. The results of the study showed that
patients who reported stress at age 23
were 2.5 times more likely than their
peers to have low back pain 10 years
later. And, those who smoked a half a
pack of cigarettes or more a day had
an even higher risk of low back pain a
decade later. Researchers suggest that
minimizing stress now can potentially
reduce future occurrences of pain.
SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health, October 2001, Vol. 91, No. 10, pp. 1671-1678

37. A common misconception about
back pain is that you need to rest
and avoid activity for a long
time. In fact, “bed rest” is not
recommended. The best solution
is moderate activity.
Source: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003108.htm

38. Proper exercise can actually help
with lower back problems.
Since weak muscles contribute to
the misalignment of the spine,
strengthening muscles should be
part of any program to help
restore normal function to the
lower back.

39. What you don’t use; you lose.
If you don’t exercise, muscles
and ligaments become weak
and fail to hold your body in
its proper alignment.

40. Dr. Cailliet, MD., writes in
his book Low Back
Syndrome: “Mild exercise
such as walking or
swimming 20 minutes a
day can help eliminate
and prevent certain forms
of back pain.”
Source: Low Back Syndrome, Edition 5, R. Cailliet, M.D.,1995.

41. Since every person is different,
your exercise program should be
determined by a doctor familiar
with different forms of exercise.

42. What can you
do to eliminate
back pain?

43. There are three common remedies:
• Drugs
• Surgery, or
• Physical treatment, which would
include spinal adjustments
(specific manipulation of the
spine), posture correction and
lower back exercises.

44. There are two problems with drugs
or medications:
1. They fail to address the cause
of the problem so there is no
permanent solution.
2. There are side effects that can
be worse than the original
problem.

45. NSAIDs1 (over-the-counter medications
to relieve pain and inflammation) cause
gastrointestinal hemorrhage, hepatitis,
abdominal pain and diarrhea. Celebrex ®
has caused acute pancreatitis, which can
be fatal. Their use can also lead to
infertility and increased clotting of the
blood, which could increase the risk of
heart attacks and strokes.
Source: “Watch Out for New Pain Prescriptions,” Dr. Sherry Rogers’ Total Wellness
Newsletter, November 2000, p. 7. 1. Nonsteroidal Anti-inflammatory Drugs.

46. Often surgery is considered after
medication has failed.
However, surgery,
if possible, should
be postponed until
nutrition, exercise
and other safe,
alternative
treatments have
been tried.

47. A study was conducted to determine the
health of patients after surgery versus
patients who had no surgery. The
National Spine Network reviewed more
than 18,000 patients with back pain who
were entered into the database from
January 1998 to April 2000. Of those
patients, 3,632 had a history of low back
surgery.
Source: Hee HT, Whitecloud III TS, Myers L. The effect of previous low back surgery on
general health status. Spine, Sept. 1, 2004;29(17):1931-7 What is pain rehabilitation?

48. Results showed that patients with a
history of lumbar spine surgery fared
significantly worse in areas such as
physical functioning, general health and
mental health, compared to those
patients with no prior history of spine
surgery.
“Previous back surgery is associated with
significantly worse general health status
than those without surgery among
patients with low back pain…”
Source: Hee HT, Whitecloud III TS, Myers L. The effect of previous low back surgery on
general health status. Spine, Sept. 1, 2004;29(17):1931-7 What is pain rehabilitation?

49. A study by Callahan &
Cianciulli shows that 70%
of those who have had
surgery for low back pain
still report pain 4 to 17
years after surgery.
Source: “Chiropractic for Low Back Pain: An Alternative to Surgery”; Callahan &
Cianciulli; Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research, Publication #9676.

50. Since low back
pain is physical in
nature, it often
responds best to a
physical form of
treatment.

51. The Agency for Healthcare Policy and
Research conducted a government study, in
which they found that for Low Back Pain,
spinal manipulation was the best and they
recommended:
1. Spinal manipulation by a chiropractor,
2. Low-stress exercise such as walking,
swimming or biking, if the problems are
“mild or “moderate”,
3. More rigorous “conditioning exercises”
for the trunk muscles to start, gradually
increasing after the first 2 weeks of pain.
Source: Chicago Sun-Times, Thursday, December 8, 1994.

52. In a survey conducted in 2002 by Media
General Research, 42% of the participants
had experienced back pain within the last 12
months. According to the survey, Chiropractic
was rated the #1 natural healthcare choice.
91% who had seen a chiropractor rated the
effectiveness of Chiropractic as being
satisfactory to excellent. And, according to
the Agency for Health Care Policy and
Research, for patients with recent onset low
back pain, Chiropractic treatment was rated
the most effective.
Source: Foundation of Chiropractic Progress, news release, February 21, 2002; www.chiroeco.news.com;World
Chiropractic Alliance, HealthWatch Newsletter, www.wcanews.com, March 2002; Kids Need Chiropractic, Too,
P. Fysh, D.C.; ChiroWeb.com, www.chiroweb.com.

53. A study released by the Ontario
Ministry of Health and published
in USA Today cited:
“The best clinical studies show that
spinal adjustment is more effective,
safer, and more cost-effective than
other conventional treatments for
low back pain.”
Source: USA Today, October 29,1993, “Chiropractors Hope Back Study Will Bring Relief from Bias”.

54. Many people are unaware that a Doctor of
Chiropractic is required to complete an
education very similar to that of a Medical
Doctor. Chiropractors are trained in premed, then four years of Chiropractic College.
All 50 states license chiropractors to treat
patients. Like the curriculum of medical
schools, a chiropractor’s education is devoted
to scientific subjects such as anatomy,
biochemistry, microbiology, pathology, public
health diagnosis, clinical disciplines, and
health sciences.
Source: Chiropractic: The Right Choice (video), Foundation for Chiropractic Education and Research 1995.

55. “A bulged disc in my lower back has
provided me a history of needing care. One
month ago, I experienced my worse
incident ever. My chiropractor relieved my
intense pain within one week! By the end
of the second week, I couldn’t even
remember hurting my back. This pain
relief in such a short period of time has
proven [Chiropractic’s] effectiveness. I
would normally have missed a week of
work. In two days, I was able to slowly
return to my job. It’s incredible!” -D.W.
SOURCE: Donald G. Walls, Jr./Kretschmar Chiropractic, St. Petersburg, FL, June 1999.

56. Decompression
Therapy
A relatively new
procedure, called
“Spinal
Decompression
Therapy” is available.
This process is
designed specifically
for disc injuries,
degeneration, and
facet syndrome.
56

57. Because chiropractors work with
their hands and are trained to find
and correct physical conditions, they
are used by some of the world’s
greatest athletes and entertainers.

58. Famous people such as Tiger
Woods, Paul McCartney, Clint
Eastwood, Billy Jean King, the
San Francisco 49ers football
team, Bruce Willis, Madonna,
Cher, Kirstie Alley, Mel Gibson,
John Travolta, and the Minnesota
Vikings, to name just a few, seek
regular Chiropractic treatment to
prevent injuries, and to stay in
top physical shape.

59. A Gift
Our purpose is to help as many people as
possible, therefore we would like to offer a
free consultation for you to determine if we
may be able to help. Simply call our office at
281-497-5577 of visit on the web at
drlambeth.net and mention that you read this
power point, and would like a free
consultation. Thank you.