In my last column, you learned how chiropractic benefited my family. To refresh your memory, my mother had suffered from neck pain for several months and she was going to doctor after doctor. However, it was not until she went to a chiropractor that her pain would gradually dimish and ultimately be gone for good.This experience lead me to become a chiropractor. As you remember, people had told my mother things about chiropractic that was not accurate. This is why I am writing this article, to inform you of the truth about your body and chiropractic.

I wanted to discuss with you neck pain. Many people are confused about the proper treatment of neck pain. One big mistake is when people say, “When I get neck pain, I just take Advil or Tylenol and it goes away.” After careful discovery the person has usually suffered with neck pain for several years. They temporarily cover up the pain with drugs without really realizing it.

Before we get into the cause of neck pain, I would like to explain to you what pain is. When you have neck pain, it is a warning sign. Pain is similar to the oil light in your car. If you are driving down the road and the oil light in your dash comes on, that light is warning you of a problem in your engine’s oil. This could be for a number of reasons. For instance, you are leaking oil. You decide to ignore the light or to cover up the light with a black piece of tape. The engine problem is still there even though you feel you have some what corrected the problem. If left uncorrected, it will most likely lead to engine failure.

Your body is the same way, when you have neck pain it is a very important warning sign that something is wrong. When you take Advil or Tylenol, you are ignoring this very important warning sign. Most people ignore the pain or put up with it until they can no longer work. The problem with this is that typically patients who come to me want a “quick fix,” however because the problem has been covered up for years, the healing time will, in most cases, be proportionate to the time the problem has been covered up.Which is the better choice?Covering up the problem and most likely causing further damage and money later on down the line, or tackling the problem when it arises, saving you money, pain, and a faster recovery for your spine and neck.

As a chiropractor, our focus is to find out why you have neck pain. In my office, I perform comprehensive neurological, posture and spinal exam. My focus is to find the cause of your neck pain and restore proper alignment to the neck and spine. The majority of the time, the neck pain is caused by misalignment of the vertebrae in your neck do to some form of stress placed on the vertebrae. The nerves of your neck pass through tiny holes of each vertebra. When there is a shift of the bones in your neck, these nerves can be pinched by that shift, causing pain or numbness. A chiropractor is the only trained professional to find these types of problems and fix them.

There are thousands of articles and research that proves chiropractic is an effective treatment for neck pain. However there was a study just recently published by Annals of Internal Medicine in 2002 (written by J. Hoving, physical therapist and several other physical therapists and Medical doctors), that stated chiropractic care was the most successful treatment of neck pain. The chiropractic success rate was 70% compared to physical therapy (50 %) and to traditional medical treatment (36%) such as drugs like Advil or other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. These, like many other studies, are showing that chiropractic is the best treatment for neck pain. Chiropractic care has also been shown to be the most cost effective treatment for neck pain. So any way you look at neck pain, you have nothing to lose with chiropractic. If you would like more information about chiropractic and the positive effects it can have on your body and your overall health, please visit my web page at www.drkiefer.netor call to set-up your appointment today to begin your journey to a healthy and happier spine.