Effective Back Pain Treatment

We see many back pain patients in our West New York office, and Dr. Marsh has been able to help many of them get relief through various chiropractic techniques and osteopathic treatments. However, recovering from back problems doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical treatment and/or osteopathic treatments, as many people use both types of care with great outcomes.

Research Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Treatment Work Well with One Another

In a study published by the medical journal Spine researchers¹ looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who were suffering from both acute discomfort and restricted function due to back pain. Some of the study participants received treatment via standard medical care, while the rest received chiropractic care in addition to standard medical care, as the authors wanted to see which patients fared better.

The authors found that the patients who got standard medical care along with chiropractic care scored "significantly better" than the group that received 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 two and four weeks.

Accordingly, 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 medicine can work alongside each other, chiropractic offers some unique strengths over medical therapy.

Where Chiropractic Care Is Successful

Although it may seem as if each approach plays a 50/50 role, there is one major advantage that chiropractic has over medical treatment and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, a piece of research done at 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 those undergoing medical treatment.

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 frequently spend much more time advising their patients as to how they can better their health on their own, as well as discussing more carefully what to expect from chiropractic care.

Chiropractic Offers a Holistic Approach

Certainly, the methods 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 holistic approach to health and wellness. Instead of focusing on simply relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care means searching for the primary cause of your pain, which often means greater improvement as you are tackling the problem at its source.

Additionally, while medication is sometimes helpful for managing certain conditions, many health issues respond well to natural forms of treatment such as chiropractic care. This means fewer negative side effects from drugs and more permanent results.

You don't have to deal with back pain or other health issues. Give our West New York clinic a call today at (201) 869-0830. 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.