Back Pain Recovery with Chiropractic Care

We see many people with back pain in our Springfield practice, and Dr. Delson has been able to help a lot of them get relief with chiropractic. However, recovering from back problems 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 outcomes.

Research Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Treatment Work Well with One Another

In a study published by the journal Spine experts¹ looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who claimed both acute soreness and restricted function due to back-related issues. Some of the test subjects received treatment via standard medical therapy, while the remainder received chiropractic care in addition to regular medical care, as the authors wanted to see which patients fared better.

Researchers observed that the patients who received standard medical care along with chiropractic scored "significantly better" than the patients who got medical care alone; 73% reported positive benefits compared to just 17 percent 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.

Accordingly, incorporating these two forms of treatment 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 unique strengths over medical treatment.

Where Chiropractic Care Pulls Ahead

Although it may seem as if each approach plays a 50/50 role, there is one significant advantage that chiropractic has over medical treatment and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, one bit of research from UCLA² that was published 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 aspects that patients favored over medical treatment were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't surprising, as chiropractors frequently spend much more time advising their patients as to how they can improve their health on their own, as well as outlining more thoroughly what to expect from chiropractic care.

Chiropractic Offers a Non-Invasive Approach to Wellness

Without a doubt, the techniques associated with chiropractic are very different than those offered with medical treatment, but a large amount of the distinction is the fact that chiropractic is a natural approach to health and well-being. Instead of focusing on just relieving the symptoms, chiropractic involves tracking down the root cause of your pain, which often results in greater improvement as you are tackling the problem at its source.

Furthermore, while medication is sometimes helpful for treating certain conditions, many health issues respond well to a natural approach such as chiropractic. This means fewer negative side effects from prescriptions and more permanent results.

You don't have to endure 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 continue to be 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.