Back Pain Recovery with Chiropractic Care

We see several people with back pain in our Gadsden practice, and Gadsden Family Chiropractic has been able to help many of them get relief with chiropractic care. At the same time, dealing with back pain doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical therapy, as many individuals use both types of care with great results.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Treatment Work Well with Each Other

In a report published by the academic 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 symptoms. Some of the patients received treatment via standard medical care, while the rest received chiropractic care in addition to regular medical care, as researchers wanted to see which patients fared better.

Researchers found that the patients who got standard medical care combined with chiropractic care 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 the two-and four-week marks.

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

Where Chiropractic Care Is Effective

Although it might seem as if each approach 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 conducted at UCLA² that was printed in the American Journal of Public Health found that, on average, chiropractic patients are generally more satisfied with their recovery than those undergoing medical care.

According to the researchers, the main factors that patients favored over medical care 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 better their health on their own, as well as explaining more thoroughly what to expect from chiropractic care.

Chiropractic Offers a Natural Approach to Wellness

Without a doubt, the strategies associated with chiropractic are very different than those provided with medical therapy, but a great deal of the distinction is the fact that chiropractic is a holistic approach to health and wellness. In contrast to focusing on just relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care means finding 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 treating certain conditions, many health issues respond well to natural forms of treatment like chiropractic. This means fewer negative side effects from medications and longer-lasting results.

You don't have to suffer from back pain or other health issues. Give our Gadsden office a call today at (256) 543-3033. 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.