Chiropractic and Medical Care: An Effective Combination

We see a number of patients with back pain in our Texarkana practice, and Back Pain Chiropractic has been able to help a lot of them get relief with chiropractic. At the same time, dealing with back problems doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical treatment, as many individuals use both types of care with great success.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Care Work Well with One Another

In a study published by the medical journal Spine investigators¹ looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who reported both acute discomfort and restricted function due to back symptoms. Some of the patients engaged in treatment via standard medical care, while the rest received chiropractic care as well as regular medical care, as researchers wanted to see which patients fared better.

Researchers observed that the patients who received standard medical care combined with chiropractic scored "significantly better" than the group that received medical care alone; 73 percent reported positive benefits compared to just 17 percent of the medical care only group who indicated the same amount of improvement. This was true regarding both pain and level of function at two and four weeks.

Thus, incorporating these two forms of care can greatly benefit you--the patient--offering advantages when compared to medical care alone. However, while chiropractic care and medicine can work together, chiropractic offers some distinct advantages over medical treatment.

Where Chiropractic Care Wins

Although it might seem as if each approach plays a 50/50 role, there is one major benefit that chiropractic has over medical care and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, a piece of research from UCLA² that was printed in the American Journal of Public Health reports that, on average, chiropractic patients are generally more satisfied with their recovery than patients undergoing medical treatment.

According to the experts, the main factors that patients favored over medical treatment were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't unexpected, as chiropractors frequently spend much more time consulting with their patients as to how they can improve their health on their own, as well as discussing more carefully what to expect from chiropractic.

Chiropractic Care Offers a Holistic Approach

Certainly, the techniques associated with chiropractic are quite different than those provided with medical care, but a great deal of the difference is the fact that chiropractic is a holistic approach to health and well-being. Instead of focusing on just relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care means tracking down the root cause of your pain, which often translates to greater improvement as you are tackling the problem at its source.

In addition, while medication is sometimes helpful for managing certain conditions, many health issues respond well to a natural approach like chiropractic care. This means fewer negative side effects from drugs and longer-lasting recovery.

You don't have to endure back pain or other health issues. Give our Texarkana office a call today at (870) 774-0951. We'll do everything we can to help you get and remain free from back pain.

References

1. Goertz CM, Long CR, Hondras MA, Petri R, Delgado R, Lawrence DJ, Owens EF, Meeker WC. Adding chiropractic manipulative therapy to standard medical care for patients with acute low back pain: results of a pragmatic randomized comparative effectiveness study. Spine 2013;38(8):627-634.
2. Hertzman-Miller RP1, Morgenstern H, Hurwitz EL, Yu F, Adams AH, Harber P, Kominski GF. Comparing the satisfaction of low back pain patients randomized to receive medical or chiropractic care: results from the UCLA low-back pain study. American Journal of Public Health 2002;92(10):1628-1633.