Effective Back Pain Treatment

We see a number of patients with back pain in our Springfield practice, and Dr. Delson has been able to help a lot of them get relief through various chiropractic techniques. However, recovering from back pain doesn't necessarily mean having to make a choice between chiropractic care and medical care, as many individuals utilize both types of care with great results.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Care Work Well with Each Other

In a report published by the academic 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 test subjects received treatment via standard medical care, while the rest received chiropractic care together with regular medical care, as the authors wanted to see which patients fared better.

The authors found that the group that got standard medical care along with chiropractic care scored "significantly better" than the group that got medical care alone; 73 percent reported positive benefits in comparison to just 17% of the medical care only group who reported the same amount of improvement. This was true regarding both pain and level of function at the two- and four-week marks.

Therefore, integrating these two forms of care can greatly benefit you--the patient--offering advantages when compared to medical care alone. However, while chiropractic care and medical approaches can work alongside each other, chiropractic offers some distinct strengths over medical treatment.

Where Chiropractic Care Pulls Ahead

Although it might seem as if each method plays a 50/50 role, there is one significant advantage 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 care.

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

Chiropractic Care Offers a Non-Invasive Approach

Without a doubt, the techniques associated with chiropractic are quite different than those provided with medical therapy, but a large amount of the difference is the fact that chiropractic is a natural approach to health and wellness. Instead of focusing on simply relieving the symptoms, chiropractic involves searching for the root cause of your pain, which often translates to greater improvement as you are addressing the problem at its source.

In addition, while medication is sometimes helpful for managing certain conditions, many health issues respond well to natural forms of treatment like chiropractic. This means fewer negative responses to drugs and more permanent recovery.

You don't have to deal with back pain or other health issues. Give our Springfield office a call today at (413) 788-4464. 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.