We see many back pain patients in our Buffalo office, and Dr. John Nowak has been able to help many of them get relief with chiropractic. However, recovering from back pain doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical treatment, as many individuals utilize both types of care with great success.
Research Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Care Work Well with Each Other
In a study published by the academic journal Spine investigators1 looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who were suffering from both acute discomfort and restricted function due to back symptoms. Some of the test subjects received treatment via standard medical care, while the remainder were given chiropractic adjustments together with regular medical care, as the authors wanted to see which group fared better.
Researchers discovered that the group that got standard medical care in combination with chiropractic scored "significantly better" than the patients who got medical care alone; 73 percent 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.
Thus, incorporating 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 advantages over medical treatment.
Where Chiropractic Care Is Successful
Although it may seem as if each method plays a 50/50 role, there is one major benefit that chiropractic care has over medical treatment and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, a study from 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 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 explaining more thoroughly what to expect from chiropractic care.
Chiropractic Offers a Non-Invasive Approach
Certainly, the strategies associated with chiropractic are very different than those offered with medical care, but a large amount of the difference is the fact that chiropractic is a natural approach to health and wellness. In contrast to 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.
Furthermore, 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 prescriptions and lasting recovery.
You don't have to suffer from back pain or other health issues. Give our Buffalo office a call today at (716) 825-4121. We'll do everything we can to help you get and continue to be free from back pain.
References
- 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.
- 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.
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