Effective Back Pain Treatment

We see a number of people with back pain in our Jacksonville practice, and Dr. Chanatry has been able to help many of them find relief with chiropractic care. At the same time, recovering from back pain 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 Care Work Well with One Another

In a report published by the journal Spine experts¹ looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who reported both acute soreness and restricted function due to back symptoms. Some of the patients engaged in treatment via standard medical therapy, while the rest were given chiropractic care together with regular medical care, as researchers wanted to see which group fared better.

The authors observed that the patients who received standard medical care along with chiropractic care scored "significantly better" than the patients who received medical care alone; 73 percent reported positive benefits compared to just 17 percent 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, combining these two forms of care can greatly benefit you--the patient--offering benefits when compared to medical care alone. However, while chiropractic and medicine can work together, chiropractic offers some unique advantages over medical treatment.

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 has over medical treatment and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, a piece of research conducted at 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 people undergoing medical care.

According to the experts, the main aspects that patients preferred over medical care were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't unexpected, as chiropractors commonly spend much more time advising their patients as to how they can better their health on their own, as well as discussing more carefully what to expect from chiropractic care.

Chiropractic Offers a Non-Invasive Approach

Without a doubt, the strategies associated with chiropractic are very different than those offered with medical care, but a large amount of the difference is the fact that chiropractic is a holistic approach to health and well-being. Instead of focusing on simply relieving the symptoms, chiropractic means searching for the primary cause of your pain, which often means greater improvement as you are addressing 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. This means fewer negative responses to prescriptions and more permanent recovery.

You don't have to struggle with back pain or other health issues. Give our Jacksonville office a call today at (904) 743-6700. 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.