Chiropractic and Medical Care: An Effective Combination

We see a number of back pain patients in our Woburn office, and Dr. Ellis has been able to help a lot of them get relief with chiropractic. At the same time, dealing with back problems doesn't necessarily mean having to make a choice between chiropractic care and medical treatment, as many individuals utilize both types of care with great outcomes.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Care Work Well Together

In a report published by the medical journal Spine researchers¹ looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who claimed both acute soreness and limited function due to back pain. Some of the test subjects engaged in treatment via standard medical therapy, while the rest were given chiropractic adjustments in addition to standard medical care, as researchers wanted to see which group fared better.

Researchers found that the patients who got standard medical care along with chiropractic scored "significantly better" than the group that got medical care alone; 73% 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 two and four weeks.

Accordingly, combining these two forms of treatment 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 strengths over medical therapy.

Where Chiropractic Care Is Successful

Although it might seem as if each method 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 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 factors that patients liked over medical treatment 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 thoroughly what to expect from chiropractic care.

Chiropractic Care Is a Natural Approach to Wellness

Certainly, the methods associated with chiropractic are quite different than those provided with medical care, but a great deal of the difference is the fact that chiropractic is a holistic approach to health and wellness. Rather than focusing on only relieving the symptoms, chiropractic means searching for the primary cause of your pain, which often means 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 care. This means fewer negative responses to drugs and longer-lasting results.

You don't have to suffer from back pain or other health issues. Give our Woburn office a call today at (781) 460-0939. We'll do our best to help you get and remain 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.