A chiropractor is a licensed healthcare professional that diagnoses and treats patients experiencing health problems related to their nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems. Patients receive a broad-based pain management treatment from chiropractors. Examples of such include physiological therapies, joint mobilization, exercise instruction, soft-tissue massage techniques, and the manual readjustment of the spine. Many patients suffering from musculoskeletal pain have found this safe and non-pharmaceutical approach to be a cost-effective option.
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Prevention is Cheaper than Cure
Regularly visiting a chiropractor to sustain and promote excellent health is a bold idea for those who strive to feel younger. The whole body benefits from the healing properties of chiropractic care. Joint manipulations and spinal adjustments maximize the body’s performance and increase mobility.
Chiropractic care also offers a wide array of health benefits, such as reducing headaches and blood pressure. Preventing these health issues can potentially save a fortune in future medical bills. Chiropractic care also brought a 60.2% decrease in hospital admissions, 62% in surgeries, and 59% in hospital visits.
Decrease in Opioid Dependence
Many possible mishaps result in people injuring their bodies, ranging from car accidents to sports injuries. In such cases, choosing chiropractic care to treat the injuries can turn out to be a wise decision. Regularly visiting a chiropractor promotes healing while decreasing the dependence on opioids for pain management. Regular visits also minimize recurrence risks.
Opioids are currently the most prescribed drugs for back pain treatment, despite insufficient evidence of its long-term effectiveness and safety. Over 50% of chronic opioid users still register back pain. According to research, chiropractic care is a cost-effective option for treating injuries because it decreases the dependence on costly drugs and minimizes time off work because patients no longer need opioids.
Chronic Neck Pain
According to research, the practice of Spinal Manipulative Therapy (SMT) together with home exercise by older patients suffering from chronic neck pain produces better clinical outcomes at lower costs than Supervised Rehabilitative Exercises (SRE) together with home exercise.
The primary focus of the study was on the cost-effectiveness and clinical outcomes of home exercise, SMT plus home exercise, and SRE plus home exercise using a control group of 241 older adults suffering from chronic neck pain.
Spinal Problems
A study of the health care costs related to alternative and complementary medicine use by patients suffering from spinal issues concluded that visiting a chiropractor led to approximately $424 lower adjusted yearly healthcare costs than other users for spine-related costs. Additionally, patients that prefer alternative and complementary providers, including chiropractors, have considerably lower hospitalization expenditures.
Extremity Conditions
According to a comprehensive review carried out in 2010, an increasing amount of evidence points towards the benefit of manual treatments such as massage, mobilization, and manipulation for various common extremity conditions.
Examples of such conditions include shoulder pain, knee and hip osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, tennis elbow, and plantar fasciitis. In this case, the main reason for chiropractic care being cost-effective is that Medicare does not currently cover the chiropractic treatment of extremity conditions.
