Chiropractic and Medical Care: An Effective Combination

We see quite a few people with back pain in our Sunnyvale & San Francisco office, and Dr. Stern has been able to help a lot of them get relief with chiropractic. At the same time, dealing with back problems doesn't necessarily mean having to make a choice between chiropractic care and medical care, as many individuals use both types of care with great success.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Care Work Well with Each Other

In a study published by the academic journal Spine researchers¹ looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who were suffering from both acute soreness and limited function due to back-related issues. Some of the patients engaged in treatment via standard medical care, while the remainder received chiropractic adjustments as well as standard medical care, as researchers wanted to determine which patients fared better.

The authors discovered that the group that got standard medical care along with chiropractic scored "significantly better" than the patients who received medical care alone; 73 percent reported positive benefits compared to just 17% of the medical care only group who reported 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 benefits when compared to medical care alone. However, while chiropractic care and medical approaches can work alongside each other, chiropractic offers some distinct advantages over medical treatment.

Where Chiropractic Care Is Successful

Although it might seem as if each method plays a 50-50 role, there is one major benefit that chiropractic care has over medical care and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, a piece of research done at 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 patients undergoing medical treatment.

According to the researchers, the main aspects that patients liked over medical care were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't unexpected, as chiropractors commonly 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 Is a Natural Approach to Wellness

Without a doubt, the techniques associated with chiropractic are very different than those provided with medical treatment, but a large amount of the difference is the fact that chiropractic is a holistic approach to health and wellness. Instead of focusing on only relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care involves searching for the primary cause of your pain, which often means greater improvement as you are tackling the problem at its source.

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

You don't have to suffer from back pain or other health problems. Give our Sunnyvale & San Francisco clinic a call today at (415) 308-7636. We'll do our best to help you get and remain 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.