Effective Back Pain Treatment

We see a number of people with back pain in our Napa, CA practice, and Dr. Roxann Bettencourt, DC has been able to help many of them get relief with chiropractic. At the same time, dealing with back problems doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical care, as many individuals utilize both types of care with great outcomes.

Study Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Care Work Well Together

In a study published by the 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 limited function due to back-related issues. Some of the patients received treatment via standard medical therapy, while the rest were given chiropractic care along with standard medical care, as the authors wanted to see which patients fared better.

Researchers discovered that the patients who got standard medical care along with chiropractic care scored "significantly better" than the group that received medical care alone; 73 percent 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 the two- and four-week marks.

Thus, combining these two forms of care 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 strengths over medical therapy.

Where Chiropractic Care Is Successful

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 piece of research 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 care.

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

Chiropractic Offers a Holistic Approach

Without a doubt, the strategies associated with chiropractic are very different than those provided with medical care, but a great deal of the difference is the fact that chiropractic is a natural approach to health and well-being. Rather than focusing on just relieving the symptoms, chiropractic care involves tracking down the primary cause of your pain, which often translates to greater improvement as you are addressing 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 such as chiropractic. This means fewer negative side effects from drugs and longer-lasting recovery.

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