Chiropractic and Medical Care: An Effective Combination

We see many patients with back pain in our Rutland office, and Dr. Maurice J Cyr has been able to provide many of them find relief with chiropractic care. However, recovering from back pain doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical therapy, as many people utilize both types of care with great results.

Research Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Treatment Work Together

In a report published by the journal Spine experts¹ looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who were suffering from both acute pain and limited function due to back-related issues. Some of the study participants engaged in treatment via standard medical therapy, while the remainder received chiropractic adjustments in addition to standard medical care, as the authors wanted to determine which group fared better.

Researchers found that the patients who got standard medical care in combination with chiropractic scored "significantly better" than the group that got medical care alone; 73 percent reported positive benefits in comparison to just 17 percent of the medical treatment only group who reported the same amount of improvement. This was true regarding both pain and level of function at two and four weeks.

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 strengths over medical treatment.

Where Chiropractic Wins

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 piece of research conducted at 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 care.

According to the researchers, the main factors that patients favored over medical care were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't surprising, 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 outlining more carefully what to expect from chiropractic care.

Chiropractic Care Offers a Non-Invasive Approach

Certainly, the strategies associated with chiropractic are quite different than those available with medical treatment, but a great deal of the distinction is the fact that chiropractic is a holistic approach to health and wellness. Rather than focusing on simply relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care means finding the root cause of your pain, which often translates to greater improvement as you are tackling the problem at its source.

In addition, while medication is sometimes helpful for treating certain conditions, many health issues respond well to natural forms of treatment like chiropractic. This means fewer negative side effects from medications and lasting recovery.

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