Chiropractic Therapy Effective for Back Pain

We see several people with back pain in our West New York practice, and Dr. Marsh has been able to help a lot of them obtain relief with chiropractic care. At the same time, recovering from back pain doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical treatment, as many people 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 journal Spine researchers¹ looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who reported both acute discomfort and limited function due to back symptoms. Some of the study participants received treatment via standard medical care, while the remainder received chiropractic therapy along with standard medical care, as researchers wanted to see which group fared better.

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

Therefore, incorporating these two forms of care can greatly benefit you, the patient, offering advantages when compared to medical care alone. However, while chiropractic and medicine can work together, chiropractic offers some unique advantages over medical treatment.

Where Chiropractic Care Is Effective

Although it may seem as if each approach plays a 50/50 role, there is one major benefit that chiropractic has over medical care and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, one bit of research from UCLA² that was published in the American Journal of Public Health found that, on average, chiropractic patients are generally more satisfied with their recovery than people undergoing medical care.

According to the experts, the main aspects that patients preferred over medical treatment were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't unexpected, 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 discussing more carefully what to expect from chiropractic care.

Chiropractic Care Offers a Non-Invasive Approach to Wellness

Certainly, the techniques associated with chiropractic are very different than those offered with medical treatment, but a great deal of the distinction is the fact that chiropractic is a natural approach to health and wellness. Rather than focusing on just relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care involves searching for the root 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 lasting recovery.

You don't have to struggle with back pain or other health issues. Give our West New York office a call today at (201) 869-0830. We'll do everything we can 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.