Do you want to know the secret of excellent back pain relief? It's not resting on your couch, suffering in pain as you wait for it to go away. It's not just doing your day-to-day physical therapy and using ice packs. So what is it?
Exercise therapies are fantastic for musculoskeletal injury, but to get the total rewards of the exercise you're going to need to get therapy that corrects misalignments in the muscles plus the spine. That's where your Rutland chiropractor, Dr. Maurice Cyr, can help. If you have hurt your back, it is very likely that you have a vertebra or two out-of-place. Stretching and strengthening your back muscles alone won't be adequate to fix the out-of-place vertebrae. Recent research explains why blending exercise therapy with chiropractic is so worthwhile.
Scientists studied 49 individuals with chronic back pain who were randomly assigned to receive either manual therapy or sham (placebo) treatment. Manual therapies consisted of treatments commonly used by Dr. Maurice Cyr, such as chiropractic adjustments and spinal mobilization. Immediately after treatment, patients did exercises like stretches, muscle and motor control workouts, mobility workouts, and strengthening. The clients were treated eight times, with an examination after three and six months.
Directly after treatment, patients treated with manual therapy plus exercise experienced greater reductions in pain compared to the placebo plus exercise group. The advantage seen in the treatment room continued at the three and six-month follow-up appointments. The chiropractic clients had lower disability and a trend towards lower pain scores compared to the placebo group. These results indicate that an integrated treatment of chiropractic and exercise could be better than exercise therapy alone for back pain.
So if you'd like comprehensive relief of back pain, pick up the phone and give our office in Rutland a call at (802) 775-6961. After a few visits with Dr. Maurice Cyr, you'll wonder why you didn't call sooner!
Balthazard P, et al. Manual therapy followed by specific active exercises versus a placebo followed by specific active exercises on the improvement of functional disability in patients with chronic non specific low back pain: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 2012; 13: 162.