If you are experiencing chronic pain, your doctor will likely prescribe you medication to minimize symptoms. While this may seem like a good idea, medication only treats the symptoms, rather than the underlying cause of those symptoms. Typical medications for neck or back pain include acetaminophen, NSAIDs (Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory) or even heavy drugs, such as Vicodin and OxyContin.
However, these medications may not be the best way to deal with chronic back or neck pain and instead, chiropractic care and exercise may be the best treatment available to you.
The Study
A study, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, showed that medication isn’t the best option to treat neck pain specifically. They followed 272 patients of neck pain for 12 full weeks and found that those who used exercise and visited a chiropractor were more likely to be free of their neck pain than those who used medication only.
Approximately 32 percent of those patients who used chiropractic care and 30 percent of patients who used exercise were pain free after 12 weeks while only 13 percent of patients treated with medicine were pain free after the same 12 weeks.
Exercise Benefits
Exercise does more than help you lose weight. It can also increase your range of motion, improve posture, help balance and strengthen the muscles of the body, making it more functional. It can also relieve pain and prevent more pain from occurring because it restores flexibility and strengthens the muscles.
For those that work in front of a computer all day, repetitive strain injuries are common, which can be the cause of neck pain. It is important to learn which exercises will provide the most benefit and to find out how to do them properly, or you could cause more problems.
Chiropractic Benefits
Chiropractors focus their practice on the musculoskeletal and nervous systems, and understand those aches and pains you may be experiencing better than other doctors. Because of this, chiropractic management of pain is usually safer and more effective.
Chiropractors have always focused on the whole body and not just the problem area. They also believe that the body can heal itself if given the proper time and treatments to do so.
