Approximately 80% of adults will have Low Back Pain at some stage in their lives. Thankfully, around 90% of patients with low back pain will self-resolve within 1 month. Unfortunately, the remaining group accounts for a large financial and social burden on society.

The direct health care cost, so what families pay themselves, for low back pain is estimated to be about ?1.6 billion pounds in the United Kingdom. The total costs for back pain however is estimated to be around ?10.7 billion. Back pain is one of the most costly conditions for the United Kingdom.

There are many different ways and therapies dealing with low back pain. Of these therapies, chiropractic care has proven itself to be one of the most effective ways in the treatment of back pain.

In the USA, chiropractic care has been recognised as the favourite primary care to patients with acute low back pain by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR).

In the United Kingdom, the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, (NICE) has also recognised Chiropractic Care as one of the preferred ways of treating low back pain. The NICE guidelines act as a recommendation on the appropriate treatment and care of people with specific diseases and conditions within the United Kingdom. These clinical guidelines are based on the best available evidence.

The question we have to ask ourselves is: Why is chiropractic care the preferred method of treatment with chronic low back pain.

First of all, one has to realize that the body is one massive big feedback loop. So the brain gets its information from joints, muscles, ligaments and many other structures. The brain then processes all the information and sends a signal back to the same muscles, joints and ligaments, telling them to act a certain way, based on the information that the brain received. You can test this yourself, by shutting your eyes and have someone else put your shoulder, arm and wrist in a certain position. Now, without you actually seeing your arm, you know exactly if your elbow is bent, your wrist is twisted and if you have raised your shoulder. This information is sent to your brain without you even realizing it.

The trouble the brain now faces when it deals with chronic pain, is that the information it receives from the muscles, joints and ligaments, is the wrong information! And because of this, the brain alters the output to these tissues, changing movement patterns all together, which can lead to repetitive microtrauma in a joint which can in its place lead to a chronic pain.

Now this is where chiropractic steps in.

Scientists have found that some signals which are sent to the brain, can override other signals. This is called the Gate theory. A prime example of this is someone rubbing an area that he just smashed into the wall. In this case, the impulses that are generated by rubbing, override the impulses that create pain.

One of the effects of chiropractic stems from this Gate theory. The spinal adjustment created by the chiropractor, effectively overrides the pain sensation. This effect can last for days. The effect of a spinal manipulation breaks the vicious circle, creating a decrease in muscle spasm, increase in blood flow and improves coordination. By doing so, the damaged tissue has a change to start repairing itself, improves its function and creates a decrease in pain.