Quality of life and low back pain

Low back pain is the primary cause of years lived with disability worldwide, across 126 countries over the last 3 decades (1). It affects the overall quality of life, ranging from family life to work life for those who suffer from it. Do you or a loved one experience low back pain? This is an important article that could make the world of difference to you.
 
“Back and neck pain currently account for the highest healthcare expenditure in the US, estimated at $134.5 billion in 2016” (2)
 
With the current literature indicating that commonly used therapies, ranging from opioids to spinal fusions, can lead to serious side effects with little impact on the overall pain experience (3,4). Current evidence based guidelines recommend more conservative and non-pharmacological approaches first, which include chiropractic spinal adjustments (5). It is important to get on top of low back pain, as it is seen in military service members, where low back pain is associated with poorer mental health and overall quality of life (6).
 
In a recent research literature, where 733 active-duty military personnel with low back pain were looked at; they were allocated to two different groups, one group received usual medical care and the other group received usual medical care and chiropractic care. The participants were given Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System, which are questionnaires to measure the patients outcome from the care provided. It was found that there were statistically significant differences favouring those who received usual medical care together with chiropractic care, which demonstrates that chiropractic care impacts health-related quality of life beyond pain and pain-related disability (7). Though further studies would help further substantiate these findings, the results so far are quite positive.

If you want to find out if chiropractic may help manage low back pain for you or your loved ones, have a chat with one of our chiropractors to see how they can assist.
 
“Improving our overall quality of life is important for not only ourselves but our loved ones”

 
1. Roberts, N.L., Mountjoy-Venning, W.C., Anjomshoa, M., Banoub, J.A.M. and Yasin, Y.J., 2019. GBD 2017 Disease and Injury Incidence and Prevalence Collaborators. Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 354 diseases and injuries for 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study (vol 392, pg 1789, 2018). Lancet, 393(10190), pp.E44-E44.
2.Dieleman, J.L., Cao, J., Chapin, A., Chen, C., Li, Z., Liu, A., Horst, C., Kaldjian, A., Matyasz, T., Scott, K.W. and Bui, A.L., 2020. US health care spending by payer and health condition, 1996-2016. Jama, 323(9), pp.863-884.
3. Krebs EE, Gravely A, Nugent S, et al. Effect of opioid vs nonop- ioid medications on pain-related function in patients with chronic back pain or hip or knee osteoarthritis pain: The SPACE Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA 2018;319(9):872–82.
4. Chou R, Deyo R, Friedly J, et al. Systemic pharmacologic thera- pies for low back pain: A systematic review for an American College of Physicians Clinical Practice guideline. Ann Intern Med 2017;166(7):480–92.
5. Qaseem A, Wilt TJ, McLean RM, Forciea MA. Noninvasive treatments for acute, subacute, and chronic low back pain: a clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians. Ann Intern Med. 2017;166:514–30.
6. Watrous, J.R., McCabe, C.T., Jones, G., Farrokhi, S., Mazzone, B., Clouser, M.C. and Galarneau, M.R., 2020. Low back pain, mental health symptoms, and quality of life among injured service members. Health Psychology, 39(7), p.549.
7. Hays, R.D., Shannon, Z.K., Long, C.R., Spritzer, K.L., Vining, R.D., Coulter, I.D., Pohlman, K.A., Walter, J.A. and Goertz, C.M., 2022. Health-Related Quality of Life Among United States Service Members with Low Back Pain Receiving Usual Care Plus Chiropractic Care vs Usual Care Alone: Secondary Outcomes of a Pragmatic Clinical Trial. Pain Medicine, 23(9), pp.1550-1559.