Low back pain in adult athletes is common with a lifetime prevalence of 63%. The 12-month prevalence for sports-related back pain was 51%. Risk factors were a previous episode of low back pain, high training volume, and periods of load increase and exposure to such increases. (1) What are treatment options? Physician members of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine are documented as using several different complementary alternative medicine (CAM) treatments for sports related pain issues. A recent survey of these physicians found that 88% of the 11% who answered that they had prescribed CAM had prescribed at least one type of CAM in the past year. The top 3 types of CAM recommended were chiropractic/osteopathic manipulation, acupuncture/ electroacupuncture, and yoga.(2) Another study stated that 53.1% of physicians recommended at least one such CAM in the past year. Massage therapy, chiropractic/osteopathic manipulation, herbs/nonvitamin supplements, yoga and acupuncture were most recommended. Family/general family practice physicians recommended chiropractic/osteopathic manipulation most often. Female more than male physicians were more likely to recommend massage, herbs/supplements, yoga, acupuncture, and mind-body therapies. (3) Our chiropractic clinic welcomes all referrals and appreciates that our chiropractic spinal manipulation is high on the list of medical physician referrals! Our Cox® Technic spinal manipulation is safe, gentle, and effective.

Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Leisa Grugula on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as she shares cases of athletes with back pain she helped get back to their sports using the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.

TIP OF THE MONTH: Osteoporosis Preventative Diet and Nutrition 

Osteoporosis develops later in life yet is preventable by diet and lifestyle modifications starting in childhood. Improved nutrition and a reduction of sugar, saturated fat, sodium, and phosphorous are good starts. Adequate levels of vitamin D and calcium are quite important along with vitamins K, C, B, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, copper, fluorine, boron, silicon, and manganese. Diet recommendations include increased dairy, fish, fruits, and vegetables intake. (4) We see quite a few osteoporotic patients in our practice and are here to help with treatment and prevention strategies.
We look forward to seeing you at your next chiropractic appointment. Thank you!

References for HEALTHY NEWS – November 2020Wilson F, Ardern CL, Hartvigsen J, Dane K, Trompeter K, Trease L, Vinther A, Gissane C, McDonnell SJ, Caneiro JP, Newlands C, Wilkie K, Mockler D, Thornton JS. Prevalence and risk factors for back pain in sports: a systematic review with meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med. 2020 Oct 19:bjsports-2020-102537. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2020-102537. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33077481.Kent JB, Tanabe KO, Muthusubramanian A, Statuta SM, MacKnight JM. Complementary and Alternative Medicine Prescribing Practices Among Sports Medicine Providers. Altern Ther Health Med. 2020 Sep;26(5):28-32. PMID: 32663181.Stussman BJ, Nahin RR, Barnes PM, Ward BW. U.S. Physician Recommendations to Their Patients About the Use of Complementary Health Approaches. J Altern Complement Med. 2020 Jan;26(1):25-33. doi: 10.1089/acm.2019.0303. Epub 2019 Dec 2. PMID: 31763927; PMCID: PMC6998052.Ortega RMª, Jiménez Ortega AI, Martínez García RM, Cuadrado Soto E, Aparicio A, López-Sobaler AM. Nutrición en la prevención y el control de la osteoporosis [Nutrition in the prevention and control of osteoporosis]. Nutr Hosp. 2020 Sep 30. Spanish. doi: 10.20960/nh.03360. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32993301.