Combining Standard Medical Care with Chiropractic Manipulative Therapy
We’ve been advocates of chiropractic treatment working to augment standard medical care (SMC) for years. In fact, we routinely collaborate with medical professionals and other health care providers on how best to achieve patient success.
Naturally, we were gratified to read the April issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), which published a piece on “Low Back Pain” (by Denise M. Goodman, MD, MS; Alison E. Burke, MA; Edward H. Livingston, MD) that suggests chiropractic therapy as an option:
Many treatments are available for low back pain. Often exercises and physical therapy can help. Some people benefit from chiropractic
therapy or acupuncture. Sometimes medications are needed, including analgesics (painkillers) or medications that reduce inflammation.
Surgery is not usually needed but may be considered if other therapies have failed.
We do believe chiropractic care should be “option #1” – being safer and more efficient in relieving pain. Our point-of-view was validated by a study cited by the medical journal Spine, “Adding Chiropractic Manipulative Therapy to Standard Medical Care for Patients With Acute Low Back Pain: Results of a Pragmatic Randomized Comparative Effectiveness Study,” (Goertz, Christine M. DC, PhD; Long, Cynthia R. PhD; Hondras, Maria A. DC, MPH; Petri, Richard MD; Delgado, Roxana MS; Lawrence, Dana J. DC, MMedEd, MA; Owens, Edward F. MS, DC; Meeker, William C. DC, MPH) which concluded…
The results of this trial suggest that CMT [chiropractic manipulative therapy] in conjunction with SMC [standard medical care] offers a significant advantage for decreasing pain and improving physical functioning when compared with only standard care, for men and women between 18 and 35 years of age with acute LBP [lower bain pain].
Lower back pain varies and ranges from a dull or sharp pain to tingling or numbness running down your leg — symptoms suggesting a pinched nerve, precipitated when a disc bulges out and puts extra pressure on the nerve between spinal bones.
Dr. O would be more than happy to discuss the details these and other similar studies, and show you how to properly maintain back health. Over the last 20 years – all of them on East 7th Street – we’ve found ourselves getting into these types of discussions with patients at least once a week.