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Avoid Sciatica Surgery With Chiropractic

Dr. James Ellis & Dr. Lyndsay Martin works with many sciatica patients here in our Woburn & Chelmsford, MA office, and many of these individuals were afraid that they might need surgery to alleviate their pain. The most recent research shows that a large number of people don't need surgery for this widespread issue, and that chiropractic is more effective at clearing up sciatic nerve pain.

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

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

Both groups got better; however, no obvious difference in results was reported one year post-treatment between the surgery group and the chiropractic group. Furthermore, around sixty percent of the participating patients who could not find pain relief from any other treatment approach "benefited from spinal manipulation to the same degree as if they underwent surgical intervention."

Simply put, chiropractic delivered the same positive advantages as surgery without needing to undergo the greater levels of surgery-based pain or suffer through lengthy recovery times often associated with that particular treatment choice. Plus, you also don't run the risks associated with surgical microdiscectomy, including nerve root damage, bowel or bladder incontinence, bleeding, or infection.

Surgery should be the last resort for sciatica pain. If you live in Woburn & Chelmsford, MA and you're being affected by back pain or sciatica, give Dr. James Ellis & Dr. Lyndsay Martin a call today at (781) 460-0939. We'll help pinpoint 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.
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