We see many people with back pain in our Portland office, and Dr. Helton has been able to help a lot of them find relief with chiropractic care. However, dealing with back problems doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical care, as many individuals use both types of care with great outcomes.
In a report 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 pain and limited function due to back pain. Some of the study participants engaged in treatment via standard medical care, while the remainder were given chiropractic adjustments along with standard medical care, as the authors wanted to determine which patients fared better.
The authors discovered that the group that got standard medical care along with chiropractic care scored "significantly better" than the group that received medical care alone; 73% 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.
Accordingly, combining these two forms of treatment can greatly benefit you--the patient--offering benefits when compared to medical care alone. However, while chiropractic care and medical approaches can work together, chiropractic offers some distinct advantages over medical therapy.
Although it might seem as if each method plays a 50/50 role, there is one significant advantage that chiropractic has over medical treatment and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, a piece of research conducted at 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 patients undergoing medical treatment.
According to the researchers, the main factors that patients favored over medical care were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't unexpected, as chiropractors typically spend much more time consulting with their patients as to how they can better their health on their own, as well as outlining more carefully what to expect from chiropractic.
Certainly, the methods associated with chiropractic are quite different than those available with medical care, but a large amount 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 care means searching for 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 such as chiropractic care. This means fewer negative responses to prescriptions and lasting recovery.
You don't have to deal with back pain or other health issues. Give our Portland clinic a call today at (503) 771-1974. We'll do everything we can to help you get and remain free from back pain.
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