We see several patients with back pain in our State College practice, and Drs. Matt & Annie Reyes has been able to help a lot of them find relief through various chiropractic techniques. However, dealing with back problems doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical treatment, as many people utilize both types of care with great outcomes.
In a report published by the medical journal Spine investigators1 looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who reported both acute soreness and limited function due to back-related issues. Some of the study participants engaged in treatment via standard medical care, while the rest were given chiropractic care as well as regular medical care, as the authors wanted to see which patients fared better.
The authors discovered that the group that got standard medical care in combination with chiropractic scored "significantly better" than the patients who got medical care alone; 73 percent reported positive benefits in comparison to just 17 percent of the medical treatment only group who indicated 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 treatment 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.
Although it might 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 from UCLA2 that was published in the American Journal of Public Health found that, on average, chiropractic patients are generally more satisfied with their recovery than people undergoing medical care.
According to the researchers, the main aspects 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 care.
Without a doubt, the techniques associated with chiropractic are very different than those offered with medical therapy, but a great deal of the difference is the fact that chiropractic is a natural approach to health and wellness. Instead of focusing on just relieving the symptoms, chiropractic means finding the primary cause of your pain, which often means greater improvement as you are tackling the problem at its source.
Furthermore, while medication is sometimes helpful for treating certain conditions, many health issues respond well to natural forms of treatment such as chiropractic care. This means fewer negative side effects from medications and lasting recovery.
You don't have to endure back pain or other health issues. Give our State College office a call today at (814) 308-9352. We'll do our best to help you get and remain free from back pain.
References
Dr. Matt Reyes was born and raised in Apalachin, a small town in Upstate New York. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology with a concentration in Fitness Development from the State University at New York College at Cortland. He then fulfilled his ambition to become a Doctor of Chiropractic when he graduated from New York Chiropractic College in 2013.
