Chiropractic and Medical Care: An Effective Combination

We see many people with back pain in our Stacy, MN office, and Dr. Andrew Ulvin has been able to help a lot of them get relief with chiropractic care. However, dealing with back problems doesn't necessarily mean having to make a choice between chiropractic care and medical therapy, as many individuals use both types of care with great outcomes.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Treatment Work Well with Each Other

In a report published by the 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 soreness and limited function due to back pain. Some of the study participants received treatment via standard medical therapy, while the rest received chiropractic care together with regular medical care, as researchers wanted to see which patients fared better.

The authors found that the patients who got standard medical care along with chiropractic scored "significantly better" than the group that received medical care alone; 73 percent reported positive benefits compared to just 17% of the medical treatment only group who reported the same amount of improvement. This was true regarding both pain and level of function at the two- and four-week marks.

Thus, integrating 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 unique advantages over medical therapy.

Where Chiropractic Care Pulls Ahead

Although it may seem as if each approach plays a 50/50 role, there is one major advantage that chiropractic care has over medical care and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, a study 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 those undergoing medical care.

According to the experts, the main factors that patients favored over medical care were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't surprising, as chiropractors commonly 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 care.

Chiropractic Offers a Holistic Approach

Certainly, the strategies associated with chiropractic are quite different than those provided with medical treatment, but a great deal of the difference is the fact that chiropractic is a natural approach to health and wellness. Rather than focusing on simply relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care involves searching for 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 care. This means fewer negative responses to medications and lasting results.

You don't have to deal with back pain or other health issues. Give our Stacy, MN office a call today at (651) 462-3243. We'll do our best 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.