Effective Back Pain Treatment

Effective Back Pain Treatment

We see many back pain patients in our Fairfax office, and Dr. Zapf has been able to help many of them find relief with chiropractic care. However, recovering from back problems doesn't necessarily mean having to make a choice between chiropractic care and medical therapy, as many individuals use both types of care with great outcomes.

Research Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Treatment Work Well Together

In a report 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-related issues. Some of the test subjects received treatment via standard medical care, while the rest received chiropractic care along with regular medical care, as researchers wanted to see which group fared better.

The authors discovered that the patients who 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 reported the same amount of improvement. This was true regarding both pain and level of function at two and four weeks.

Therefore, combining 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 together, chiropractic offers some unique strengths over medical therapy.

Where Chiropractic Care Wins

Although it may 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 from 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 treatment.

According to the experts, the main factors 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 improve their health on their own, as well as outlining more carefully what to expect from chiropractic.

Chiropractic Care Offers a Non-Invasive Approach

Certainly, the techniques associated with chiropractic are very different than those provided with medical treatment, but a great deal of the distinction is the fact that chiropractic is a holistic approach to health and well-being. Rather than focusing on only relieving the symptoms, chiropractic involves tracking down the root cause of your pain, which often translates to 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 a natural approach like chiropractic care. This means fewer negative responses to prescriptions and more permanent recovery.

You don't have to deal with back pain or other health issues. Give our Fairfax clinic a call today at (703) 455-9555. We'll do our best to help you get and remain free from back pain.  Learn more about our Back Pain Treatment.

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.