Effective Back Pain Treatment

We see quite a few patients with back pain in our Port Coquitlam office, and Dr. Olson has been able to help a lot of them find relief through various chiropractic techniques. 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 success.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Care Work Well with Each Other

In a study published by the medical journal Spine researchers¹ 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 study participants engaged in treatment via standard medical care, while the rest received chiropractic care together with standard medical care, as researchers wanted to see which patients fared better.

Researchers observed that the group that got standard medical care in combination with chiropractic care scored "significantly better" than the group that 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 two and four weeks.

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

Where Chiropractic Care Is Successful

Although it may seem as if each approach 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 piece of research 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 patients undergoing medical treatment.

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

Chiropractic Is a Natural Approach to Wellness

Without a doubt, the techniques associated with chiropractic are very different than those provided with medical therapy, but a great deal of the distinction is the fact that chiropractic is a natural approach to health and wellness. Rather than focusing on only relieving the symptoms, chiropractic means tracking down 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 treating certain conditions, many health issues respond well to natural forms of treatment like chiropractic. This means fewer negative responses to medications and longer-lasting recovery.

You don't have to deal with back pain or other health issues. Give our Port Coquitlam office a call today at (604) 941-4596. We'll do everything we can to help you get and remain 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.