Chiropractic and Medical Care: An Effective Combination

We see a number of back pain patients in our Anchorage office, and Dr. Mulholland has been able to help a lot of them find relief with chiropractic care. At the same time, recovering from back pain doesn't necessarily mean having to make a choice between chiropractic care and medical treatment, as many people use both types of care with great success.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Care Work Well Together

In a report 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 limited function due to back symptoms. Some of the study participants received treatment via standard medical care, while the remainder were given chiropractic care in addition to regular medical care, as researchers wanted to determine which group fared better.

Researchers observed that the patients who received standard medical care combined with chiropractic care scored "significantly better" than the group that got medical care alone; 73 percent reported positive benefits in comparison to just 17% 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.

Accordingly, combining these two forms of treatment can greatly benefit you--the patient--offering benefits 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 Wins

Although it might seem as if each method plays a 50/50 role, there is one significant advantage that chiropractic care has over medical treatment and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, a study from UCLA² that was printed 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 experts, the main aspects that patients liked over medical care were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't unexpected, as chiropractors typically spend much more time consulting with their patients as to how they can improve their health on their own, as well as discussing more thoroughly what to expect from chiropractic care.

Chiropractic Is a Natural Approach to Wellness

Certainly, 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 natural approach to health and wellness. Instead of focusing on just relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care means finding the primary cause of your pain, which often results in greater improvement as you are addressing the problem at its source.

In addition, while medication is sometimes helpful for treating certain conditions, many health issues respond well to a natural approach like chiropractic. This means fewer negative side effects from drugs and longer-lasting recovery.

You don't have to suffer from back pain or other health problems. Give our Anchorage clinic a call today at (907) 770-5700. 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.