We see a number of back pain patients in our Aloha office, and Oregon Medical Centers has been able to provide a lot of them get relief with chiropractic. At the same time, dealing with back problems doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical care, as many individuals use both types of care with great results.
In a report published by the journal Spine researchers1 looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who claimed both acute pain and restricted function due to back pain. Some of the study participants engaged in treatment via standard medical care, while the remainder were given chiropractic care together with regular medical care, as researchers wanted to see which patients fared better.
The authors discovered that the patients who received standard medical care combined with chiropractic care scored "significantly better" than the group that received medical care alone; 73% reported positive benefits compared 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 the two- and four-week marks.
Thus, incorporating 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 distinct strengths over medical therapy.
Although it may seem as if each approach plays a 50-50 role, there is one significant benefit that chiropractic has over medical care 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 those 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 typically spend much more time advising their patients as to how they can better their health on their own, as well as discussing more thoroughly what to expect from chiropractic.
Certainly, the techniques associated with chiropractic are very different than those available with medical therapy, but a great deal of the distinction is the fact that chiropractic is a natural approach to health and well-being. Rather than focusing on simply relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care involves tracking down the root cause of your pain, which often results in greater improvement as you are tackling the problem at its source.
Furthermore, while medication is sometimes helpful for managing certain conditions, many health issues respond well to natural forms of treatment like chiropractic care. This means fewer negative responses to drugs and longer-lasting recovery.
You don't have to struggle with back pain or other health issues. Give our Aloha office a call today at (503) 642-2845. We'll do our best to help you get and stay free from back pain.
References
Dr. Bhasin grew up in Southern California and did her undergraduate work in pre-med at California State University Northridge, as well as Humboldt State University in California. Dr. Bhasin attended the University of Western States in Portland Oregon where she earned her Doctor of Chiropractic Degree. Dr. Bhasin has passed her National boards and her State Boards. Dr. Bhasin loves helping people and finds great joy helping injured people get out of pain and get their life back again. She has helped thousands of patients.
