There has been a lot controversy over the issue of conventional versus alternative medicine treatments. Chiropractic care and prescription drugs are a prime example of this controversy. Many think that chiropractic care is more of a pseudoscience while others claim that it is “magical” and has fixed their chronic back problems. Prescription drugs are usually effective when it comes to pain relief but the side effects that are linked are terrible and can lead to illness down the road. Most people do not want to have to wake up and take a whole cocktail of pills and chiropractic care offers an easier solution. Chiropractic care is a cheaper, more effective, and healthier means of back pain relief compared to prescription drugs which can lead to addiction, abuse, high costs, and never actually resolve the issue.
The treatment of back pain has changed over the course of history as we continue to gain new knowledge and information. Although conventional medicine seems to change, not much has changed when it comes to alternative medicines that were created hundreds of years ago. All alternative medicines seem to follow certain guidelines that previous cultures used. One reason conventional treatments have changed so much is because the spine has evolved over time. Chiropractors have always been the same in the sense that they are trying to adjust the position of one’s spine, relax it, and allow for more work to be done on it. Prescription drugs have changed in minor ways, improving maneuverability, and created based on more knowledge than before. There are multiple challenges when it comes to determining which is better, alternative versus conventional. Chiropractors tend to lose credibility because their work is not backed by science while prescription drugs have complete integrity yet their side effects and effectiveness draw people away from them. As a whole, society benefits from both chiropractic care and prescription drugs to help alleviate back pain but the only means of relief that are permanent involve lifestyle changes and chiropractic care while prescription drugs only mask the pain for a short time.
Loading one’s body with countless pills and drugs is not natural and can be tremendously harmful to the body. Side effects associated with medicines have been found to be so ridiculous that often time they are mocked and made fun of. Alternative medicines are non-invasive and usually do not involve one to consume inorganic substances. Chiropractic care proves to be a more natural way of relieving ones back pain. Conventional medicines such as Opioids are what one receives when over-the-counter drugs do not get the job done. The problem with this is that opioids are known to have terrible side effects. Opioids side effects consist of sedation, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, constipation, physical dependence, tolerance, and respiratory depression. Many even misuse opioids and that also comes with long term issues. Unless any of these side effects sound appealing to consumers, chiropractic care would be the treatment with more advantages over prescription drugs. Chiropractic care can even improve one’s health by reducing their back pain so much that they are able to get around better in everyday life and eventually begin to exercise once more.
Another reason why alternative medicines are superior to conventional medicines is because they are cheaper. Many reasons why people neglect their bodies when it comes to cost $42, and a months’ worth of opioids cost approximately $140. Although $42 for one session sounds like a lot, during a session a patient not only receives treatment but they learn and figure out more about themselves. A patient can walk away from a chiropractic session with exercises and more knowledge of how to improve themselves, while a person consuming opioids can only result in a short lived pain reduction. When considering pursuing a treatment one needs to consider the cost of both options. Cost can be a deciding factor when picking a treatment because if one cannot afford conventional treatment they do not think they have any other options. Alternative treatment is a great treatment option that is cheaper on average than conventional medicines and leaves the patient with more than just a chemical reaction.
More important than cost is the question of whether or not the treatment is effective. Prescription drugs do not always have the same effect on people, sometimes they help people significantly and other times they have no effect. When it comes to chiropractic care one, no matter how effective the treatment, one always gains something from the session that can help them in the future. In a study on back pain patients, patients who received chiropractic care were found to be more satisfied on average than patients who received medical care, which consists of tests done and pills taken. Chiropractic care is among the most popular of alternative medicines when it comes to experiencing back pain. Opioids are considered a dangerous prescription drug because of the higher risk for addiction and substance abuse.
Overall it is clear to see that chiropractic care is a much cheaper and effective option over the use of prescription drugs. One must learn how to take care of themselves and not just mask the pain over and over with the use of opioids daily. The argument can be made that alternative medicines are not actually effective because it is not completely science backed. Chiropractic care is deemed unscientific because it is not based on the knowledge related to health that is accepted by science.
Prescription drugs however are accepted. Even with chiropractic care being deemed pseudoscientific the feedback is mostly positive from the patients and still greatly outweigh the negative impacts of prescription drugs. Prescription drugs are one of the most commonly abused drugs and they have some of the worst side effects, with that in mind it is not difficult to understand why many are willing to try chiropractic care and soon reap the benefits of it. Although prescription drugs may mask the pain, complete elimination of the problem is always better and chiropractic care often results in a person’s change in lifestyle which helps them become healthier as a whole and significantly reduces their symptoms or completely make them go away.
The topic over alternative medicines vs. conventional medicines is very controversial yet sheds light on new ideas that the medical field could possibly value. Although prescription drugs may make one feel better, the effects are short lived and fail to resolve the issue. Chiropractic care has proven to be an effective solution to seemingly incurable back pain. Even with few studies being done to prove the science behind chiropractors work, one simply cannot deny results. If someone is receiving treatment and it is working, what does it matter if the treatment is not totally understood? Support was difficult to find on chiropractic care because it is not an accepted form of treatment by the science community. A form of support that can be used for chiropractic care is how patients feel.
There are many different ways of thinking about this topic, but undeniably the evidence is there to support the idea that chiropractic care can be useful even if not backed by science. Another point to make is that prescription drugs should be a last resource. Prescription drugs have ruined plenty of lives through addiction and abuse, and many times they have proven to be ineffective completely or only reduce the pain slightly. The negatives of conventional medicines heavily outweigh the positives when it comes to deciding which type of treatment one should undergo. Each person responds differently to treatments so alternative medicines are definitely worth a try.
There is a great amount of knowledge that can be taken from the research conducted above but there are a few very important concepts to take from it. One being that alternative medicines are not science based and that they use different techniques than one will ever experience in a doctor’s office. Something else that should be gained from the research is that prescription drugs are often times addictive and only mask the pain for a short time never actually solving one’s problems. Lastly one should know that just because alternative medicines are not proven does not mean one cannot benefit from treatment, it is entirely based upon the person on whether or not they benefited. Chiropractic care is recommended for anyone experiencing any type of back or neck pain keeping them from living their lives pain free. Chiropractic care should definitely be tried before succumbing to some type of drug that one will then depend on to make them feel better instead of empowering oneself to relieve their own pain. In conclusion, chiropractic care is a highly praised unconventional treatment that should be practiced by anyone that has any pain in their neck or back before submitting to the use of a chemical stimulus to alleviate the pain temporarily.
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1.) Comparing holistic and conventional medicine
3.) Comparison of conventional and holistic medicine
4.) Understanding the differences
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6.) Picture two