National Chiropractic Health Month Begins Oct. 1

Campaign promotes spinal health, injury prevention and non-drug therapies for back pain.

This October, chiropractors across the country will bring attention to the importance of prevention in maintaining spinal health throughout one’s lifetime as part of National Chiropractic Health Month (NCHM) 2017.

This year’s campaign, “Back to Basics,” focuses on back health “basics”—simple health and injury prevention strategies to help maintain spinal health—and will highlight the growing body of research supporting a conservative approach to back pain treatment.

Back pain remains one of the most prevalent and disabling conditions worldwide. It is one of the most common reasons that patients visit their doctors, and one of the most common conditions for which doctors prescribe pain medications. Since the overuse and abuse of prescription opioid painkillers in the United States remains a major public health problem, it’s essential for health care consumers to understand that spinal manipulation and other non-drug treatments can relieve back pain and other common musculoskeletal conditions safely and effectively.

The American College of Physicians and other health care groups now support the use of conservative non-drug approaches to back pain before turning to riskier options such as prescription pain medications and surgery. In addition, the Joint Commission, which accredits all major hospital systems in the United States, released new pain management standards this summer that require hospitals to provide non-drug pain treatments.

“Almost everyone experiences back pain at some point in their lives, and more people are becoming interested in non-drug approaches to treatment,” says American Chiropractic Association (ACA) President David Herd, DC. “Chiropractors are well-equipped to treat back pain conservatively using a variety of non-drug therapies, such as spinal manipulation and massage, as well as counseling on injury prevention, ergonomics and strengthening exercises.”

National Chiropractic Health Month, a nationwide event occurring every October, raises public awareness of the benefits of chiropractic care and its natural, whole-person, patient-centered approach to health and wellness. The official sponsor of NCHM 2017 is Standard Process, a manufacture of whole food nutrient solutions. For more information on NCHM, visit www.acatoday.org/NCHM. To learn more about chiropractic and back pain, visit www.acatoday.org/patients.

About the American Chiropractic Association
The American Chiropractic Association (ACA) is the largest professional chiropractic organization in the United States. ACA attracts the most principled and accomplished chiropractors, who understand that it takes more to be called an ACA chiropractor. We are leading our profession in the most constructive and far-reaching ways — by working hand in hand with other health care professionals, by lobbying for pro-chiropractic legislation and policies, by supporting meaningful research and by using that research to inform our treatment practices. We also provide professional and educational opportunities for all our members and are committed to being a positive and unifying force for the practice of modern chiropractic. To learn more, visit www.acatoday.org, and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.