Chiropractic vs. Traditional Care for Preventing Back Pain

This video helps explain “What makes chiropractic care different from traditional treatments?” for those looking for back-pain relief. In the past, doctors believed acute back pain came in discrete episodes that lasted no longer than 90 days. Recently, however, research suggests that acute back pain often reoccurs, meaning if you have an episode of back pain, you’ll likely have another later in life.

A 2011 study suggests that chiropractic can prevent these recurring back pain episodes better than traditional treatment. In the study, researchers analyzed the course and costs of treatment for nearly 900 cases of back pain. Below are a few key findings from the study –

• Patients receiving traditional care relied more heavily on pain medications and were disabled for longer periods of time than chiropractic patients
• Patients under a physician’s care were disabled for an average of 119 days versus 58 days for physical therapy patients and just 49 days for chiropractic patients.
• Chiropractic patients were less prone to recurring disability compared to patients in the physician and physical therapy groups
• 16.9% of physical therapy patients had recurring disability versus 12.5% of physician patients and just 6.2% of chiropractic patients.

The results of the study show that Chiropractic helps prevent future episodes of back pain by addressing the root cause of the pain, rather than masking the symptoms. If you suffer from back pain or have chronic symptoms, chiropractic could help. If you’d like to learn more about effective back pain relief or if you’d like to set up an initial consultation, please call our office or book online today.

References

Cifuentes M, Willetts J, Wasiak R. Health maintenance care in work-related low back pain and its association with disability recurrence. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2011; 53(4): 396-404.