Effective Back Pain Treatment

We see many back pain patients in our Boone office, and Dr. Dustin Gorman has helped a lot of them get relief with chiropractic. At the same time, recovering from back problems doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical treatment, as many individuals utilize both types of care with great success.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Care 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 reported both acute soreness and restricted function due to back pain. Some of the test subjects received treatment via standard medical therapy, while the rest were given chiropractic care along with standard medical care, as researchers wanted to determine which patients fared better.

Researchers determined that the patients who got standard medical care combined with chiropractic scored "significantly better" than the group that received medical care alone; 73 percent reported positive benefits in comparison to just 17% of the medical treatment 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, incorporating these two forms of care can greatly benefit you--the patient--offering benefits when compared to medical care alone. However, while chiropractic care and medical approaches can work together, chiropractic offers some distinct advantages over medical treatment.

Where Chiropractic Wins

Although it may seem as if each approach plays a 50-50 role, there is one major advantage that chiropractic care has over medical treatment and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, a study conducted at 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 those undergoing medical treatment.

According to the researchers, the main aspects that patients liked 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 outlining more carefully what to expect from chiropractic.

Chiropractic Offers a Non-Invasive Approach

Certainly, the methods associated with chiropractic are very different than those available with medical treatment, 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 simply relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care involves tracking down the primary cause of your pain, which often translates to greater improvement as you are tackling the problem at its source.

Furthermore, while medication is sometimes helpful for managing certain conditions, many health issues respond well to natural forms of treatment such as chiropractic. This means fewer negative responses to medications and more permanent recovery.

You don't have to deal with back pain or other health issues. Give our Boone clinic a call today at (515) 460-2256. We'll work to help you get and stay 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.