Effective Back Pain Treatment

We see quite a few back pain patients in our Naperville, IL practice, and Frank Bendiks, DC, PC has been able to provide many of them get relief with chiropractic care. At the same time, dealing with back problems doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical care, as many people use both types of care with great outcomes.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Treatment Work Together

In a study published by the academic journal Spine experts¹ looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who were suffering from both acute pain and limited function due to back-related issues. Some of the test subjects received treatment via standard medical therapy, while the rest were given chiropractic adjustments as well as standard medical care, as researchers wanted to see which group fared better.

Researchers discovered that the patients who got standard medical care along with chiropractic scored "significantly better" than the patients who received medical care alone; 73% reported positive benefits in comparison 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.

Therefore, combining these two forms of care can greatly benefit you--the patient--offering benefits when compared to medical care alone. However, while chiropractic care and medicine can work alongside each other, chiropractic offers some unique advantages over medical therapy.

Where Chiropractic Wins

Although it might seem as if each method plays a 50/50 role, there is one significant benefit that chiropractic care has over medical care and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, a study 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 factors that patients favored over medical care were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't surprising, as chiropractors tend to spend much more time advising their patients as to how they can better their health on their own, as well as explaining more thoroughly what to expect from chiropractic care.

Chiropractic Care Offers a Holistic Approach

Without a doubt, the strategies associated with chiropractic are quite different than those available with medical care, but a large amount of the difference is the fact that chiropractic is a natural approach to health and well-being. In contrast to focusing on simply relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care involves searching for the primary 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 treating certain conditions, many health issues respond well to a natural approach like chiropractic care. This means fewer negative responses to prescriptions and more permanent results.

You don't have to deal with back pain or other health issues. Give our Naperville, IL office a call today at (630) 301-0054. We'll work 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.