The Secret to Effective Back Pain Recovery in Joplin, MO

Do you want to understand the key to effective back pain relief? It's not lying on your couch, aching with pain as you wait for it improve. It's not just doing your day-to-day physical therapy and icing. So what is it?


Exercise therapies are great for musculoskeletal injury, but to get the complete effects of the exercise you have to to get therapy that corrects misalignments in the muscles plus the spine. That's where your Joplin, MO chiropractor, Dr. Lewis, can help. If you have injured your back, it is more than likely that you have a spinal misalignment. Lengthening and strengthening your back muscles alone won't be enough to remedy the out-of-place vertebrae. Recent research explains why combining physical therapy with chiropractic is so useful.

Scientists studied 49 individuals with chronic back pain who were randomly assigned to get either manual therapy or sham (placebo) treatment. Manual therapies included procedures commonly employed by Dr. Lewis, like spinal adjustments and chiropractic mobilization. Directly after treatment, patients did exercises like stretching, muscle and motor control workouts, mobility exercises, and strengthening. The patients were treated eight times, with an assessment after three and six months.

Immediately after treatment, patients treated with manual therapy plus exercise experienced larger reductions in pain compared to the placebo plus exercise group. The advantage seen in the treatment room was maintained at the three and six-month follow-up visits. The chiropractic clients had reduced disability and a pattern of lower pain scores compared to the sham group. These results suggest that a blended treatment of chiropractic and exercise could be better than exercise therapy alone for back problems.

So if you'd prefer lasting relief of back pain, pick up the phone and give our office in Joplin, MO a call. After a few sessions with Dr. Lewis, you'll wonder why you didn't call earlier!

Balthazard P, et al. Manual therapy followed by specific active exercises versus a placebo followed by specific active exercises on the improvement of functional disability in patients with chronic non specific low back pain: a randomized controlled trial. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 2012; 13: 162.