Depending on the general state of your health, chiropractic care may help you keep your overall medical costs down, according to the results of a recent study. People who have musculoskeletal disorders and received chiropractic care or physical therapy had overall lower health care expenses and were less likely to have surgery, according to a recent report. The report was based on a one-year study during 2008 of some 5,500 members of Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, of Iowa and South Dakota, who suffered from some type of musculoskeletal disorder.
The report analyzed data on care given to the study group by more than 200 chiropractors and physical and occupational therapists. Eighty-nine percent of the individuals who received one or more of the physical forms of treatment reported improvement of at least 30 percent within 30 days. Not only were clinical outcomes significant, researchers also found significant health care cost decreases for those who received some form of physical medicine service.
This is not to say there is not need for surgery or that surgery makes people unhealthy. The purpose of the study is to show that a proactive approach to fixing problems when they are small can prevent them from becoming large. Large problems with your musculoskeletal system can have a greater likelihood of requiring surgery. This approach, of being more proactive and focusing on fixing the problem rather than masking pain with painkillers, gets to the source and does not let the problem creating pain become worse until it requires a surgical procedure.
Sometimes things are so bad they require surgery. However, here’s the kicker, even if you have a surgery, you are not done there! If you wish to get the best results from the procedure, you better have a well trained healthcare provider work with you to assure the rehab of the area allows for greatest outcome or at least reduce the amount of scar tissue development. These are commonly the same procedures that you would have done before surgery to attempt to prevent it in the first place.
The point here is that managing your health and your body is not unlike managing your car. The longer you let a problem go, the more likely you are to have very inconvenient and very costly emergency issues. Talk with a chiropractor about ways chiropractic care can contribute to your general health and help you hold down costs.
If you would like more information, health tips and a newsletter from Advantage Health & Wellness PLLC, join our mailing list.
