We see a number of back pain patients in our State College, PA office, and Drs. Matt & Annie Reyes has been able to provide many of them get relief through various chiropractic techniques. At the same time, dealing with back pain doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical therapy, as many individuals utilize both types of care with great outcomes.
In a report 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 soreness and limited function due to back pain. Some of the patients engaged in treatment via standard medical therapy, while the rest received chiropractic care together with regular medical care, as the authors wanted to determine which patients fared better.
The authors discovered that the patients who got standard medical care in combination 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 treatment 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 treatment can greatly benefit you--the patient--offering advantages when compared to medical care alone. However, while chiropractic and medical approaches can work alongside each other, chiropractic offers some unique 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 from UCLA2 that was printed in the American Journal of Public Health found that, on average, chiropractic patients are generally more satisfied with their recovery than those undergoing medical treatment.
According to the experts, the main aspects that patients liked over medical treatment were "self-care advice and explanation of treatment." This isn't unexpected, as chiropractors frequently spend much more time consulting with their patients as to how they can improve their health on their own, as well as outlining more thoroughly what to expect from chiropractic care.
Without a doubt, the strategies associated with chiropractic are very different than those offered with medical care, but a large amount of the distinction is the fact that chiropractic is a holistic approach to health and wellness. In contrast to focusing on just relieving the symptoms, chiropractic means finding the primary cause of your pain, which often translates to 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. This means fewer negative responses to prescriptions and lasting recovery.
You don't have to suffer from back pain or other health issues. Give our State College, PA clinic a call today at (814) 308-9352. We'll work to help you get and continue to be 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.
