By Dr. Tim Holcomb, Chirorpactor, Nutritionist and Acupuncturist

The American Chiropractic Association reports that $50 billion is spent every year in this country for back pain treatments of various kinds. Most don’t work, the problem persists and the sufferer is confused about what could really help them.

The big drug companies see the profit potential and look for potential conditions to sell more drugs to make them a lot of money. They seem to make up problems to drive their sales. For instance, the condition ankylosing spondylitis, which is a very rare condition. It is rarely seen in practice.

Yet, the drug companies are putting out ads using the fear of ankylosing spondylitis affecting your spine to sell Humira, an expensive medication that inhibits the immune system, and has numerous side effects, including infections, risk of cancer, allergies, neurological conditions, liver damage, lupus, psoriasis, et cetera.

One such ad that I have seen on-line says “Get more info about Ankylosing Spondylitis” as if many people need this information.

Pinched nerves from misalignments of the spinal vertebrae, bad posture and mechanical stress on the spine cause the vast majority of back problems, not some rare and mysterious inflammatory condition. So there would be very little need for this dangerous drug. Unfortunately, the drug companies have no problem with you getting it from your doctor.

Unfortunately, most people suffering from neck or back problems and pinched nerves, don’t think to see a chiropractor. Instead of chiropractic, they are willing to be put on dangerous pain killers and dangerous muscle relaxers which are addicting and cause damage to the liver and kidneys. Then there are pain injections, which are also risky. In the news recently, we have heard about people that received injections into the spine with contaminated steroids, and then developed meningitis.

The best way to treat and prevent most cases of back pain is to get regular chiropractic adjustments from a chiropractor to keep your spine properly aligned and keeping the spinal vertebrae moving properly. Chiropractic adjustments from a chiropractor have been proven to be a safe and effective alternative and should be the first option tried in most cases of back or neck pain.

By Dr. Timothy Holcomb, Chiropractor, Acupuncturist, Nutritionist

If you have a pinched nerve, you may be experiencing neck, shoulder, arm, back, leg or sciatica pain. This may be resulting from a herniated disc, sciatica, degenerative disc disease, or failed surgery syndrome.

The usual options to help a pinched nerve have been limited to the following:

1. Medications, which don’t fix the underlying cause of the pain, can be addicting and cause liver and kidney damage. Many people on kidney dialysis today took lots of medications in their past.

2. Surgery, which has a painful recovery period, puts you out of work, and fails 50 percent of the time. A failed surgery can lead to the necessity of another surgery to try to repair its damages. All surgery causes scar tissue which is a permanent weakness.

3. Injections, which can be painful and dangerous, especially if the needle is not placed correctly. It is often placed very close to the delicate spinal cord, which can cause even worse pain that can become permanent. Also, we have all heard about the contaminated medications that were injected into the spines of many patients who developed meningitis afterwards.

There is an alternative to these methods. Chiropractic has been shown to be effective for many cases involving pinched nerves. Chiropractic is non-invasive and safe, and should usually be considered first before these invasive and dangerous procedures are done.

A chiropractor is well-trained in a rigorous course of study similar to, and in many subjects, more rigorous than medical school for medical doctors. A chiropractor takes extensive training in anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, nutrition, radiology, neurology, orthopedics, and diagnosis, which is comparable to what medical doctors receive.

So, a chiropractor is very capable of detecting and treating pinched nerves. In my chiropractic practice, I have a neurologic relief test that can help me determine if chiropractic procedures will help their pain. This is a totally free test that I offer as a public service so that people can hopefully avoid more painful and invasive procedures.