Effective Back Pain Treatment

We see many patients with back pain in our Napa, CA office, and Dr. Roxann Bettencourt, DC has been able to provide many of them get relief with chiropractic. However, dealing with back pain doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical treatment, as many individuals use both types of care with great results.

Research Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Treatment Work Well with One Another

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 were suffering from both acute pain and restricted function due to back symptoms. Some of the study participants engaged in treatment via standard medical care, while the rest were given chiropractic care in addition to regular medical care, as the authors wanted to see which group fared better.

The authors observed that the patients who got standard medical care combined with chiropractic care scored "significantly better" than the patients who got medical care alone; 73 percent reported positive benefits compared to just 17% of the medical care only group who reported the same amount of improvement. This was true regarding both pain and level of function at the two- and four-week marks.

Therefore, incorporating 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 alongside each other, chiropractic offers some distinct advantages over medical treatment.

Where Chiropractic Wins

Although it might seem as if each method plays a 50/50 role, there is one major advantage that chiropractic has over medical care and that is in patient satisfaction. In fact, a study done 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 people undergoing medical treatment.

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

Chiropractic Is a Natural Approach to Wellness

Certainly, the techniques associated with chiropractic are quite different than those provided with medical care, but a large amount of the difference is the fact that chiropractic is a holistic approach to health and well-being. Instead of focusing on just relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care means finding 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 side effects from prescriptions and lasting results.

You don't have to deal with back pain or other health issues. Give our Napa, CA office a call today at (707) 257-3600. We'll work 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.