Effective Back Pain Treatment

We see a number of patients with back pain in our Allen practice, and Dr. Szeryk has been able to help a lot of them get relief with chiropractic care. 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 use both types of care with great outcomes.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Treatment Work Well Together

In a study published by the academic journal Spine researchers¹ looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who reported both acute pain and limited function due to back symptoms. Some of the study participants received treatment via standard medical therapy, while the rest received chiropractic care along with standard medical care, as researchers wanted to see which group fared better.

Researchers found that the group that received standard medical care along with chiropractic care scored "significantly better" than the group that got medical care alone; 73% reported positive benefits in comparison to just 17 percent of the medical care 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, 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 medical approaches can work alongside each other, chiropractic offers some unique strengths over medical therapy.

Where Chiropractic Care Wins

Although it might 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 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 care.

According to the experts, the main factors that patients preferred over medical care were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't unexpected, 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.

Chiropractic Care Is a Natural Approach to Wellness

Certainly, the techniques associated with chiropractic are quite 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. Instead of focusing on only relieving the symptoms, chiropractic means finding the root cause of your pain, which often results in greater improvement as you are addressing the problem at its source.

Additionally, while medication is sometimes helpful for managing certain conditions, many health issues respond well to a natural approach like chiropractic. This means fewer negative side effects from prescriptions and more permanent recovery.

You don't have to suffer from back pain or other health issues. Give our Allen clinic a call today at (972) 390-9191. 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.