Chiropractic and Medical Care: An Effective Combination

We see many patients with back pain in our Parkland, FL practice, and Dr. Neil Scharf has been able to help many of them find relief through various chiropractic techniques. At the same time, recovering from back pain doesn't necessarily mean having to make a choice between chiropractic care and medical care, as many individuals use both types of care with great outcomes.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Treatment Work Well with One Another

In a study published by the medical journal Spine experts¹ looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who claimed both acute discomfort and restricted function due to back pain. Some of the patients received treatment via standard medical care, while the remainder received chiropractic adjustments together with standard medical care, as researchers wanted to determine which group fared better.

Researchers discovered that the patients who got standard medical care in combination with chiropractic scored "significantly better" than the group that got medical care alone; 73 percent 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 two and four weeks.

Accordingly, incorporating these two forms of care can greatly benefit you--the patient--offering advantages when compared to medical care alone. However, while chiropractic and medical approaches can work together, chiropractic offers some unique advantages over medical treatment.

Where Chiropractic Care Is Successful

Although it might seem as if each approach plays a 50/50 role, there is one major benefit that chiropractic care has over medical treatment and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, a study conducted 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 people 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 unexpected, as chiropractors tend to spend much more time consulting with their patients as to how they can improve their health on their own, as well as outlining more carefully what to expect from chiropractic.

Chiropractic Offers a Holistic Approach

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 holistic approach to health and well-being. In contrast to focusing on only relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care involves finding the root cause of your pain, which often results in greater improvement as you are tackling the problem at its source.

In addition, while medication is sometimes helpful for managing certain conditions, many health issues respond well to a natural approach like chiropractic care. This means fewer negative side effects from prescriptions and more permanent results.

You don't have to endure back pain or other health issues. Give our Parkland, FL clinic a call today at (954) 227-0088. We'll do our best 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.