Chiropractic Care vs. Traditional Medical Care
In a nation that is faced with such a high prevalence of back pain, neck pain, headaches, and other musculoskeletal problems, we are always looking for different ways to improve our pain outcomes. Whether we are newly experiencing lower back pain, we have an ailing neck, or we are faced with chronic headaches, the need for quick and effective solutions to our problems is essentially undying.
There are two schools of thought when it comes to the treatment of musculoskeletal problems. Some people prefer to seek traditional medical care, using their primary care doctor for a referral to an orthopedist or neurologist and the eventual seeking of pain medication. Others prefer an alternative approach, using chiropractic care to avoid pain medication and surgery. Knowing that these are the two main approaches to managing musculoskeletal pain, researchers have committed to determining which of the two may help more.
A recent study published in the journal Spine compared the efficacy of these two treatment pathways and tried to determine which care pathway would bring about the best outcomes. At the conclusion of the study, 94% of patients who had sought out chiropractic care had seen a 30% reduction in lower back pain when measured at the fourth week of the study. On the other hand, 56% of patients who had sought out traditional medical care were able to attain the 30% reduction in pain. Many studies are able to identify how effective a certain treatment may be by measuring pain outcomes at a certain point in time over the course of the treatment’s administration, and this study is able to tell us exactly how chiropractic care compares to medical care at the same time throughout treatment.
This bodes well for the future of chiropractic care as there are many people who are skeptical of this discipline of alternative medicine and do not believe that it can help them. With more research of this kind, we can hopefully convince people that traditional medical care may not always be the best solution. In addition, more insurance plans are beginning to cover chiropractic services which means increased access for patients. On top of that, many professional athletes have been touting the benefits of chiropractic, encouraging fans in their communities to check it out.
Used under Creative Commons Licensing courtesy of Mark Morgan
