Chiropractic Therapy and Medical Care: An Effective Combination

We see many people with back pain in our Kettering office, and Dr. Poelking has been able to help a lot of them get relief with chiropractic care. At the same time, dealing with back pain doesn't necessarily mean having to make a choice between chiropractic care and medical treatment, as many individuals utilize both types of care with great success.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Treatment 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 were suffering from both acute pain and limited function due to back symptoms. Some of the patients received treatment via standard medical therapy, while the remainder received chiropractic therapy in addition to regular medical care, as the authors wanted to see which group fared better.

Researchers observed that the group that got standard medical care in combination with chiropractic care scored "significantly better" than the patients who received medical care alone; 73% reported positive benefits in comparison to just 17 percent of the medical care only group who indicated 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 treatment can greatly benefit you, the patient, offering benefits when compared to medical care alone. However, while chiropractic and medicine can work alongside each other, chiropractic offers some distinct strengths over medical therapy.

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, one bit of research done 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 patients undergoing medical treatment.

According to the researchers, the main factors that patients liked over medical treatment were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't surprising, as chiropractors frequently spend much more time advising their patients as to how they can improve their health on their own, as well as outlining more thoroughly what to expect from chiropractic.

Chiropractic Offers a Holistic Approach to Wellness

Without a doubt, the methods 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. Instead of focusing on only relieving the symptoms, chiropractic means searching for the root cause of your pain, which often results in greater improvement as you are addressing 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 drugs and more permanent recovery.

You don't have to suffer from back pain or other health issues. Give our Kettering office a call today at (937) 299-2900. 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.