[originally published in KCN, January 2002]
It may come as a surprise, but after authoring some 46 Spinal Column articles over the past 5 years, I have yet to dedicate one to the condition that we chiropractors most often see — low back pain. Sure, I’ve made reference to it many times, but I’ve never given it the spotlight. Perhaps, that’s exactly what I have been afraid of — giving it the “spotlight.” Much of the media and scientific journals have made lower back pain and chiropractic one and same. And while we are grateful for the validation and coverage, many in our profession, and rightfully so, are afraid that we might get pigeon-holed into becoming known as “low back doctors” when chiropractic really has so much more to offer.
[originally published in KCN, May 2001 / cartoon provided by TomLamarCartoon.com]
Did you know that chiropractic can be extremely effective at treating headaches? Not a lot of people do, and from the looks of things, that’s just fine with some. However, a much anticipated headache evidence report released by Duke University earlier this year might help to reverse this troubling trend. Ironically though, with the events that led up to this point, I don’t think we as a chiropractic profession were expecting to contend with a headache of our own.
[originally published in KCN, November 1998]
It is not uncommon for low back pain sufferers to be told by their medical doctors not to worry, the pain will go away on its own. Unfortunately, words like these bear little comfort to someone down for the count with lumbago. Like it or not, it’s a common “truth” in the medical arena. An article published in the medical journal Spine, just over ten years ago, stated, “80-90% of attacks of low back pain recover in about six weeks, irrespective of administration or type of treatment.” More recently, back pain guidelines published out of Australia touted similar verbiage: back pain patients should be “given the assurance that they will recover naturally.” In a way, I guess this line of thinking sort of fits with our human nature and is somewhat comforting. It’s much easier to ignore the gigantic gray elephant sitting in your living room, than to face the fact that something might actually be wrong. “Maybe it will just ‘go away.’”
[originally published in 
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