Satisfied With Back Pain?

By James L. Holding, DC, CCSP, Board Certified Chiropractic Sports Phys

The prestigious medical journal Spine published an extensive study that revealed that back pain patients are more satisfied with chiropractic care than traditional healthcare. This has been found by numerous other studies and randomized trials in the past, and the authors confirm this and provide references for these earlier studies.

This study was done at UCLA and was a randomized clinical trial of low back pain patients. Patients received medical care, either with or without physical therapy, or chiropractic care, either with or without physical therapy. The researchers reported, “after four weeks of care, chiropractic patients were more satisfied than medical patients.”

The researchers also wanted to know if the greater satisfaction was reflected in reduced lower back pain and disability. The study revealed greater satisfaction in both the short-term and the long-term. They wrote, “greater satisfaction increased the odds of remission from clinically meaningful pain and disability at six weeks and perception of improvement was greater amongst highly satisfied patients throughout the 18 month follow-up period.

It should come as no surprise that less pain and disability would tend to make people more satisfied with their care. But this study looked at it the other way around asking if greater satisfaction helped to reduce pain and disability. The researchers found that chiropractic patients were more satisfied because doctors of chiropractic gave the patients more information. This tends to support the idea that mental state of mind, like satisfaction with the office experience, affect how the body heals.

We think that it likely goes both ways. Satisfaction likely speeds healing and healing certainly increases satisfaction with the care. The mind and body are inseparable and interactive. The mind works through the nervous system to affect the body and to get information to and from the body via this “information superhighway,” the nervous system.

Chiropractic focus is on the integrity of the nervous system. The intent is to restore your body’s ability to heal itself, without drugs and surgery. Chiropractic is simple, safe, affordable and amazingly effective, which has been proven once again.

With the current research

and clinical findings available, back pain is now more treatable than ever before. Individuals with back problems are truly in need of safe and

effective evaluation and treatment.

As a specialist of the spine, the doctor of chiropractic is recognized as

the most qualified to deal with back problems.