Chiropractic Treatment and Medical Care: An Effective Combination

We see many people with back pain in our Pinole office, and Dr. Jung has been able to help a lot of them get relief with chiropractic care. At the same time, recovering from back problems doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical therapy, as many individuals use both types of care with great success.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Care Work Well with Each Other

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 were suffering from both acute discomfort 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 treatment along with standard medical care, as researchers wanted to determine which patients fared better.

Researchers observed that the patients who 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 the two-and four-week marks.

Therefore, combining these two forms of care 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 distinct strengths over medical treatment.

Where Chiropractic Care Is Effective

Although it might seem as if each method plays a 50-50 role, there is one major benefit that chiropractic care has over medical care and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, a study 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 those 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 frequently 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.

Chiropractic Offers a Holistic Approach to Wellness

Certainly, the strategies associated with chiropractic are quite different than those available 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 simply relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care means tracking down the root cause of your pain, which often translates to greater improvement as you are addressing the problem at its source.

Additionally, 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 more permanent results.

You don't have to deal with back pain or other health problems. Give our Pinole office a call today at (510) 243-7500. 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.