Effective Back Pain Treatment

We see many patients with back pain in our Harleysville, PA office, and Dr. Szilagyi has been able to help a lot of them get relief through various chiropractic techniques. However, recovering from back pain doesn't necessarily mean having to decide between chiropractic care and medical care, as many individuals utilize both types of care with great results.

Research Confirms Chiropractic and Medical Treatment Work Well Together

In a study published by the journal Spine investigators¹ looked at a group of active-duty military personnel between the ages of 18 and 35 who reported both acute discomfort and limited function due to back pain. Some of the study participants received treatment via standard medical care, while the remainder received 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 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 indicated the same amount of improvement. This was true regarding both pain and level of function at two and four weeks.

Thus, incorporating 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 strengths over medical treatment.

Where Chiropractic Care Pulls Ahead

Although it might seem as if each method 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, one bit of research from 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 researchers, the main factors that patients liked over medical care 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 explaining more thoroughly what to expect from chiropractic care.

Chiropractic Care Is a Natural Approach to Wellness

Certainly, the methods associated with chiropractic are very different than those offered with medical care, but a great deal of the difference is the fact that chiropractic is a holistic approach to health and wellness. Instead of focusing on simply relieving the symptoms, chiropractic involves tracking down the primary cause of your pain, which often results in greater improvement as you are addressing the problem at its source.

Furthermore, while medication is sometimes helpful for managing certain conditions, many health issues respond well to natural forms of treatment such as chiropractic. This means fewer negative responses to drugs and longer-lasting results.

You don't have to struggle with back pain or other health problems. Give our Harleysville, PA clinic a call today at (215) 256-4345. We'll do our best to help you get and stay 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.