Chiropractic Treatment and Medical Care: An Effective Combination

We see many people with back pain in our Rutland practice, and Dr. Cyr has been able to help a lot of them get relief with chiropractic care. However, dealing with back pain doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical treatment, as many people utilize both types of care with great success.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Care Work Well with One Another

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 limited function due to back-related issues. Some of the patients received treatment via standard medical care, while the remainder received chiropractic adjustments as well as standard medical care, as the authors wanted to see which patients fared better.

Researchers found that the group that got standard medical care in combination with chiropractic care scored "significantly better" than the patients who received medical care alone; 73% reported positive benefits compared 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.

Thus, integrating these two forms of treatment 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 strengths over medical treatment.

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 care has over medical treatment and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, one bit of research conducted 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 treatment.

According to the researchers, the main aspects that patients favored over medical care were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't unexpected, as chiropractors typically spend much more time advising their patients as to how they can improve their health on their own, as well as outlining more carefully what to expect from chiropractic.

Chiropractic Offers a Holistic Approach to Wellness

Certainly, the techniques associated with chiropractic are very different than those available with medical care, but a large amount of the distinction is the fact that chiropractic is a holistic approach to health and wellness. Instead of focusing on simply relieving the symptoms, chiropractic involves finding the root 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 treating certain conditions, many health issues respond well to natural forms of treatment such as chiropractic. This means fewer negative responses to prescriptions and longer-lasting recovery.

You don't have to deal with back pain or other health problems. Give our Rutland office a call today at (802) 775-6961. We'll do everything we can 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.