Chiropractic and Medical Care: An Effective Combination

We see many back pain patients in our Clarksdale, Hernando, Horn Lake & Olive Branch practice, and Dr. Kasprack has been able to help many of them get relief with chiropractic. However, dealing with back problems doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical treatment, as many people use both types of care with great results.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Treatment Work Well Together

In a study published by the academic journal Spine investigators¹ 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 care, while the remainder received chiropractic care along with regular medical care, as researchers wanted to determine which group fared better.

The authors discovered that the group that got standard medical care combined with chiropractic scored "significantly better" than the patients who received medical care alone; 73 percent 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 the two- and four-week marks.

Therefore, integrating these two forms of treatment 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 distinct advantages over medical treatment.

Where Chiropractic Care Is Successful

Although it might seem as if each method 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 study done 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 patients 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 commonly spend much more time advising their patients as to how they can improve their health on their own, as well as outlining more carefully what to expect from chiropractic.

Chiropractic Care Offers a Non-Invasive Approach

Without a doubt, the techniques 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 natural approach to health and wellness. In contrast to focusing on simply relieving the symptoms, chiropractic means searching for the root cause of your pain, which often translates to greater improvement as you are addressing the problem at its source.

Additionally, while medication is sometimes helpful for treating certain conditions, many health issues respond well to natural forms of treatment like chiropractic care. This means fewer negative side effects from prescriptions and lasting results.

You don't have to endure back pain or other health problems. Give our Clarksdale, Hernando, Horn Lake & Olive Branch office a call today at (662) 890-0012. 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.