Effective Back Pain Treatment

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

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Treatment Work Well with One Another

In a study published by the academic journal Spine experts¹ 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 therapy, while the remainder received chiropractic care in addition to standard medical care, as the authors wanted to determine which patients fared better.

The authors found that the patients who received standard medical care combined with chiropractic scored "significantly better" than the group that received medical care alone; 73% 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 two and four weeks.

Accordingly, integrating these two forms of care can greatly benefit you--the patient--offering advantages when compared to medical care alone. However, while chiropractic care and medicine can work alongside each other, chiropractic offers some unique strengths over medical therapy.

Where Chiropractic Care Pulls Ahead

Although it might seem as if each approach plays a 50-50 role, there is one significant benefit that chiropractic 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 found that, on average, chiropractic patients are generally more satisfied with their recovery than those undergoing medical treatment.

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

Chiropractic Care Is a Natural Approach to Wellness

Certainly, the techniques associated with chiropractic are quite different than those available with medical therapy, but a large amount of the difference is the fact that chiropractic is a holistic approach to health and well-being. Rather than focusing on simply relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care means searching for the root cause of your pain, which often translates to 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 prescriptions and more permanent recovery.

You don't have to struggle with back pain or other health issues. Give our Anchorage office 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.