Effective Back Pain Treatment

We see quite a few back pain patients in our Moon Township practice, and Dr. Spiropoulos has been able to provide a lot of them get relief with chiropractic. At the same time, recovering from back problems doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical care, as many individuals utilize both types of care with great results.

Research Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Treatment Work Together

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 claimed both acute pain and restricted function due to back symptoms. Some of the patients received treatment via standard medical care, while the remainder received chiropractic adjustments together with standard medical care, as the authors wanted to see which patients fared better.

The authors determined that the patients who got standard medical care along with chiropractic scored "significantly better" than the patients who got medical care alone; 73% reported positive benefits compared 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.

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

Where Chiropractic Wins

Although it might seem as if each approach plays a 50-50 role, there is one major advantage that chiropractic has over medical care and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, one bit of research done at UCLA² that was published 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 researchers, 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 better their health on their own, as well as explaining more carefully what to expect from chiropractic care.

Chiropractic Offers a Holistic Approach

Without a doubt, the strategies associated with chiropractic are quite different than those provided with medical therapy, but a great deal of the difference is the fact that chiropractic is a natural approach to health and wellness. Instead of focusing on only relieving the symptoms, chiropractic means tracking down the primary cause of your pain, which often translates to greater improvement as you are tackling the problem at its source.

Additionally, while medication is sometimes helpful for managing certain conditions, many health issues respond well to a natural approach such as chiropractic care. This means fewer negative responses to drugs and longer-lasting recovery.

You don't have to suffer from back pain or other health issues. Give our Moon Township clinic a call today at (724) 513-0521. 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.