Williamson Chiropractic Healthy News - March 2018

Healthcare professions are establishing recommendations for practitioners to abide by when delivering health care with hopes to stimulate conversations between patients and their healthcare providers and among healthcare providers themselves. Your Williamson chiropractor at Apple Country Chiropractic is always ready for such a conversation about Williamson back pain. Back pain is a big health issue affecting 80% of us in Williamson at some point in life. Back pain is handled by many kinds of physicians in many kinds of specialist societies. Their societal recommendations are similar concerning imaging (Do not order in the first 6 weeks of pain unless there are “red flags.”), testing non-surgical care before imaging and/or referring for back surgery, and moving the patient care from passive to active care. For example, the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation recommends not ordering repeat epidural steroid injections without evaluating the response to the last one and not prescribing opioid drugs for acute disabling low back pain without evaluation and a test of other alternatives. (2) The American Chiropractic Association recommends not performing repeat imaging to monitor progress of care, not obtaining spinal imaging for acute low back pain in the first 6 weeks of pain unless red flags are present, and staying away from long term use of passive care but instead move the patient to active care. (3) The American College of Emergency Room Physicians recommends avoiding lumbar spine imaging in non-traumatic back pain except if there are severe or progressive neurological deficits or a suspicion of an underlying issue. (4) The American College of Physicians recommends not obtaining imaging studies in patients with non-specific low back pain. (5) The North American Spine Society recommends not advocating bed rest for more than 48 hours for low back pain, not using EMG studies to figure out the cause of spine pain, and not doing advanced spinal imaging (ex MRI) in the first 6 weeks of non-specific acute low back pain devoid of red flags. (6) The Danish Health Authority recommends not sending patients for back surgery for a lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy except if the severe and debilitating back pain continues for 12 weeks in spite of non-surgical treatment. (7) It’s up to you, the Williamson back pain patient or concerned loved one, to choose wisely the path of care for back pain relief. Use these professions’ recommendations for back pain care to start a conversation with your Williamson chiropractor, your Williamson back pain specialist, at Apple Country Chiropractic as you decide on the type of care suitable for your Williamson back pain relief.

 

TIP OF THE MONTH: Try Non-Surgical Interventions for Williamson Back Pain

Common Williamson non-surgical interventions for Williamson back pain relief are pain medications, exercise, manual manipulation, massage, and heat/ice. (8, 9) Included in the top non-surgical interventions to try before Williamson back surgery is spinal manipulation (10) of which 90% (11) is performed by chiropractors. The Cox Technic System of Spine Care – spinal manipulation with exercise, nutrition and passive care for pain and inflammation reduction with increased active care importance as pain decreases – matches Choosing Wisely recommendations as it works toward 50% relief of pain within 30 days of care (which is more than the 30% or greater improvement in self-reported pain and function sought by medicine [12]) before advanced imaging or surgical referral in absence of red flags. Bring your Williamson back pain to your Williamson chiropractor’s office! Make it your first Williamson back pain relief healthcare stop!