Effective Back Pain Treatment

We see many back pain patients in our Hernando, Horn Lake & Olive Branch, MS office, and Our Chiropractic Team has been able to help a lot of them find relief with chiropractic care. However, dealing with 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 Each Other

In a report published by the academic 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 soreness and restricted function due to back symptoms. Some of the study participants engaged in treatment via standard medical care, while the remainder were given chiropractic adjustments in addition to standard medical care, as the authors wanted to determine which patients fared better.

The authors observed that the group that received standard medical care combined with chiropractic care scored "significantly better" than the patients who received medical care alone; 73 percent reported positive benefits compared to just 17 percent 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.

Thus, integrating these two forms of care can greatly benefit you--the patient--offering benefits when compared to medical care alone. However, while chiropractic care and medicine can work together, chiropractic offers some distinct strengths over medical therapy.

Where Chiropractic Care Pulls Ahead

Although it may seem as if each method plays a 50/50 role, there is one significant benefit that chiropractic has over medical treatment and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, a piece of research done 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 patients undergoing medical care.

According to the experts, the main aspects that patients liked over medical treatment were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't surprising, as chiropractors tend to spend much more time consulting with 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 Is 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. Rather than focusing on simply relieving the symptoms, chiropractic involves searching for the root cause of your pain, which often means greater improvement as you are addressing 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 care. This means fewer negative responses to prescriptions and lasting results.

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