Dr. Gerard is often asked this question: “Why should I choose chiropractic care over taking medications and/or having surgery?” His answer? Research has shown that chiropractic care works better for people suffering from back and neck pain. Furthermore, it’s all natural. Chiropractic care generally involves manipulating the spine to where it’s supposed to be so that you don’t have to have surgery or take pills.
So is there any proof for this claim? Consider an article published in the Annals of Internal Medicine (2012) which said chiropractic care was more effective for neck pain compared to taking medication.
An experiment was conducted with 272 people, ages 18 to 65. These people had all said they were suffering with neck pain– some for as little as two weeks, others for as many as 12 weeks. Each person in the study ended up in one of three groups: 1) chiropractic care 2) medication or 3) home exercise. Their treatments lasted 12 weeks.
If you’re wondering what medication patients were given for this study, they included muscle relaxants and non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen. Opioid painkillers such as Vicodin, OxyContin, and Percocet were also administered. Along the way standard medical tests were given at regular intervals to assess improvement. Are you curious about the results?
Interestingly, chiropractic care was found to be the most effective at relieving neck pain, followed by home exercise and then medication. Furthermore, those using medication(s) reported more adverse reactions and the need to use more and more medication as time went on.
Besides neck pain, chiropractic care has also been found to be effective for relieving sciatica, headaches, and other ailments many people deal with on a regular basis. There was a study of 40 patients with sciatica, for instance, whereas they were randomly assigned either surgery or chiropractic care. Sixty percent of those receiving chiropractic care reported feeling better, as if they had received the surgery. Meanwhile, chiropractic care studies have shown it helps people feel relief from their migraine headaches, often better than medication does.
If you’ve been suffering with pain in your neck, back, legs and/or head, consider making an appointment at Lakewoods Chiropractic for some much needed relief; please call 651-464-0800 to do so today.
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