If you’re new to chiropractic care, you might not know about all the benefits that this type of treatment can offer. One of the most important and overlooked benefits of choosing chiropractic treatment first, over other types of medical treatment, is that it can save you time, money and has a reduced risk of various complications compared to surgical interventions. There are even studies that show the comparison between chiropractic care and surgery as investments in your health. 

Time 

One of the biggest goals of chiropractic care is to always find and address the root cause of the pain. This means if you come into a clinic, the doctor of chiropractic is not only going to figure out a way to address your pain but also figure out what is causing it and correct the injury. This approach is different from some other types of medical providers who might just quickly write you a prescription and send you on your way if you are experiencing neck, back, shoulder or any other type of pain. The problem? Even though a prescription might be able to temporarily mask your pain, and seem like a quicker fix, it will actually just prolong the injury and will not offer true relief. This means, without proper attention and correction, your injury will continue to cause pain and/or other symptoms like numbness, tingling or disability for a much longer duration. Also, patients who started with chiropractic treatment as opposed to those who chose family physician-directed care, experienced significantly greater improvement in their condition-specific function. Chiropractors, like the ones at Kaizo Health, use individualized programs such as Rehab 360 to not only reduce pain and symptoms, but correct any movement intolerances so that you are pain-free for the long haul. For more information about our exclusive and proven rehabilitative program, Rehab 360, check out this blog post.  

Surgery, despite what it may seem like, is not a quick fix for musculoskeletal issues like back and neck pain. It can become a very long, drawn-out process. For surgery you will need to likely invest your time in pre-surgery preparative rehab as well as a lengthy post-operative recovery and rehabilitation program where you will be equally, if not more, unable to perform your desired activities and required duties.  Furthermore, if the root cause of the issue is not identified in the beginning, additional time can be spent on tests, additional surgeries, and even more physical therapy/treatment following surgery. One study showed that by encouraging people with low back pain to access chiropractic care first, they are very likely to reduce the number of imaging tests, spinal surgeries, and opioid prescriptions they must endure. 

Complications 

As you probably know, anytime surgery is involved, there is a risk of complications that can even be very serious or life-threatening.  There can be risky complications due to anesthesia, incision and internal infections, blood clots, or many others, even death.  In this study, 23% of patients experienced complications after spinal surgery, 11% were serious complications and 3% died.  Also, even though the goal of surgery is to fix one issue, often times it can lead to other issues or require a long-term recovery. About 43% of patients who first saw a surgeon had surgery within 3 years, compared to only 1.5% of those who first saw a chiropractor. According to studies the risk of adverse events from chiropractic care is extremely rare and serious complications or death are even less common. 

Not only can surgery be expensive, risky, painful and require a large amount of recovery time – sometimes meaning unpaid time off work or other activities, it can also sometimes lead to drug-dependency issues caused by opioids and pain pill prescriptions. It’s no secret that the opioid epidemic in this country is a serious problem. These types of medications don’t address the root cause of the issue and can cause a dependency problem that sometimes requires rehabilitation and other intervention-type therapies to remedy.  

When choosing a chiropractor first, you will never be prescribed a potentially dangerous prescription for your pain or injury. Patients who seek chiropractic treatment are 55% less likely to fill any type of prescription (prescribed by another doctor) as compared to those who do not seek chiropractic treatment.  

Money 

One of the biggest benefits of choosing chiropractic care over surgery or other types of medical services is the amount of money it can save you in both the short and long term.  

By choosing a chiropractor, you are choosing the shortest duration of financial compensation compared with other types of healthcare providers. This is because the average cost of chiropractic sessions is almost 40% less than with other types of providers. So not only are you choosing a shorter term of treatment, since the doctors of chiropractic immediately start working on identifying and treating the root cause of the problem, but their average costs are much lower than larger hospital systems, surgeons, and practices.  

The Best Choice 

As you can see, choosing chiropractic care first for any type of pain or injury can have so many benefits. Not only are you working on treating the problem correctly, the first time, but you are more likely to avoid surgery, pain, dangerous opioid prescriptions, and risky complications. All of these things, in addition to the lower cost of chiropractic care, will save you so much money in the long run. Research shows that spinal, hip, and shoulder pain patients experienced pain relief, greater satisfaction, and lower cost if they started care with chiropractors, compared with medical doctors. 

Get Treated at Kaizo Health  

Our goal at Kaizo Health is to always get you back to feeling 100%. Not only will our doctors provide treatment to help you be pain-free, but we also have a dedicated team that will work with you and your insurance to make sure you get the most from your benefits so that you can experience relief for as little cost to you as possible. If you are ready to experience relief from the pain, make an appointment to see us now.  

At Kaizo Health, our world-class team of chiropractors in Rockville, MD; Landover, MD; Fort Washington, MD; and Fairfax, VA, practices an evidence-based approach combining chiropractic care and guided, individualized rehabilitative exercises prescription. We provide the treatment and resources you need to recover your health and strength as best-in-class, state-of-the-art chiropractors. We are here to help! In the meantime, make sure that you check out our blog for more information on the chiropractic field, as well as our free virtual self-assessment chiropractic web app here.