Effective Back Pain Treatment

We see a number of patients with back pain in our Yakima office, and Michael J. Covington DC-PS has been able to provide many of them get relief through various chiropractic techniques. At the same time, dealing with back pain doesn't necessarily mean having to make a choice between chiropractic care and medical care, as many individuals utilize both types of care with great results.

Research Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Care Work Well with One Another

In a study published by the academic journal Spine investigators¹ looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who claimed both acute discomfort and limited function due to back symptoms. Some of the test subjects received treatment via standard medical therapy, while the rest were given chiropractic adjustments together with standard medical care, as researchers wanted to determine which patients fared better.

The authors found that the group that got standard medical care combined with chiropractic care scored "significantly better" than the group that got medical care alone; 73 percent reported positive benefits compared 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 the two- and four-week marks.

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

Where Chiropractic Wins

Although it might seem as if each approach plays a 50-50 role, there is one major advantage that chiropractic care has over medical treatment and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, a study from UCLA² that was printed in the American Journal of Public Health reports that, on average, chiropractic patients are generally more satisfied with their recovery than those undergoing medical treatment.

According to the experts, the main factors that patients preferred over medical treatment were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't unexpected, as chiropractors frequently spend much more time consulting with their patients as to how they can better their health on their own, as well as explaining more thoroughly what to expect from chiropractic.

Chiropractic Care Offers a Non-Invasive Approach

Certainly, the techniques associated with chiropractic are quite different than those provided with medical treatment, but a large amount of the difference is the fact that chiropractic is a holistic approach to health and wellness. Instead of focusing on just relieving the symptoms, chiropractic means tracking down the root cause of your pain, which often means greater improvement as you are addressing the problem at its source.

Additionally, while medication is sometimes helpful for treating certain conditions, many health issues respond well to a natural approach like chiropractic. This means fewer negative responses to drugs and lasting recovery.

You don't have to endure back pain or other health issues. Give our Yakima clinic a call today at (509) 895-7535. We'll do our best to help you get and continue to be 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.