Effective Back Pain Treatment

We see many back pain patients in our Henderson, NV office, and Dr. Russell and Dr. Janda has been able to help a lot of them find relief with chiropractic care. At the same time, recovering from back problems 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 results.

Research Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Treatment Work Well with Each Other

In a study published by the medical 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 pain and restricted function due to back symptoms. Some of the test subjects engaged in treatment via standard medical care, while the rest received chiropractic care as well as standard medical care, as the authors wanted to see which patients fared better.

Researchers determined that the group that got standard medical care along 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 two and four weeks.

Thus, incorporating these two forms of care can greatly benefit you--the patient--offering advantages when compared to medical care alone. However, while chiropractic care and medical approaches can work together, chiropractic offers some distinct advantages over medical therapy.

Where Chiropractic Care Wins

Although it may seem as if each approach plays a 50-50 role, there is one significant benefit that chiropractic care has over medical care and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, a piece of research from 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 those undergoing medical care.

According to the experts, the main factors that patients favored over medical treatment were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't unexpected, as chiropractors typically spend much more time advising 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 Offers a Holistic Approach

Without a doubt, the strategies associated with chiropractic are very different than those available with medical treatment, but a large amount of the distinction is the fact that chiropractic is a holistic approach to health and wellness. In contrast to focusing on simply relieving the symptoms, chiropractic involves tracking down the root cause of your pain, which often translates to greater improvement as you are tackling the problem at its source.

Additionally, while medication is sometimes helpful for managing certain conditions, many health issues respond well to a natural approach like chiropractic care. This means fewer negative side effects from medications and more permanent results.

You don't have to deal with back pain or other health problems. Give our Henderson, NV office a call today at (702) 990-2225. 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.