Effective Back Pain Treatment

We see quite a few patients with back pain 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. However, recovering from back pain doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical care, as many individuals utilize both types of care with great outcomes.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Care Work Well with One Another

In a study published by the journal Spine investigators¹ looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who reported both acute soreness and limited function due to back symptoms. Some of the test subjects received treatment via standard medical care, while the rest were given chiropractic care in addition to standard medical care, as the authors wanted to see which patients fared better.

Researchers observed that the group that got standard medical care along with chiropractic care scored "significantly better" than the patients who received medical care alone; 73% reported positive benefits in comparison to just 17 percent 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, integrating these two forms of care can greatly benefit you--the patient--offering benefits when compared to medical care alone. However, while chiropractic and medical approaches can work together, chiropractic offers some distinct advantages over medical therapy.

Where Chiropractic Care Is Successful

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 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 patients undergoing medical care.

According to the experts, the main aspects that patients liked 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 improve 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 strategies associated with chiropractic are very different than those offered with medical care, 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 care involves finding the primary cause of your pain, which often translates to greater improvement as you are addressing the problem at its source.

Additionally, while medication is sometimes helpful for treating certain conditions, many health issues respond well to a natural approach such as chiropractic. This means fewer negative responses to prescriptions and more permanent results.

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