Effective Back Pain Treatment

We see quite a few patients with back pain in our Estero, Bonita Springs office, and Dr. Green has been able to help a lot of them find relief with chiropractic care. At the same time, dealing with back pain doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical therapy, as many people utilize both types of care with great outcomes.

Research Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Care Work Well with One Another

In a report published by the academic journal Spine experts¹ looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who were suffering from both acute pain and limited function due to back-related issues. Some of the study participants engaged in treatment via standard medical care, while the rest were given chiropractic care along with regular medical care, as the authors wanted to determine which patients fared better.

Researchers discovered that the group that got standard medical care in combination with chiropractic scored "significantly better" than the group that received medical care alone; 73% reported positive benefits in comparison to just 17 percent of the medical care only group who reported the same amount of improvement. This was true regarding both pain and level of function at the two- and four-week marks.

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 medical approaches can work alongside each other, chiropractic offers some unique strengths over medical treatment.

Where Chiropractic Care Wins

Although it might seem as if each approach plays a 50/50 role, there is one major advantage that chiropractic care has over medical care and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, a piece 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 people 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 tend to spend much more time advising 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 Care Offers a Non-Invasive Approach

Without a doubt, the strategies associated with chiropractic are quite different than those provided with medical therapy, but a large amount of the difference is the fact that chiropractic is a holistic approach to health and well-being. Instead of focusing on simply relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care means searching for the root cause of your pain, which often results in 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. This means fewer negative side effects from drugs and longer-lasting results.

You don't have to struggle with back pain or other health problems. Give our Estero, Bonita Springs office a call today at (239) 495-1166. We'll do our best to help you get and stay 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.