What do you expect from your
chiropractic care of Williamson
back pain? That is a pivotal question. Research
is reporting that that questions of expectations has a role in back pain treatment outcome be the
treatment surgical or conservative. Apple Country Chiropractic intends
to hear your expectations of our Williamson back
pain treatment and present what our treatment’s outcomes have been in practice and in
research.
INFLUENTIAL EXPECTATIONS FOR BACK SURGERY OUTCOMES
A recent research project studied
patient and surgeon expectations of back surgery. Patients expected complete
relief and improvement of their back pain after lumbar spine surgery. Surgeons
expected improvement that ranged from a little to a lot dependant on the patient and his/her specific issues. Can you guess whose expectations were met? The surgeons’
expectations. Two years after the back surgery, the outcomes
reported by patients met the surgeon’s expectations.
The researchers stressed that effective communication about expectations
may well foster better outcomes. (1) That’s
why Apple Country Chiropractic spends time with each Williamson
back pain patient at the beginning of care, making sure the source of pain and its treatment plan are well-described.
If not, tell us!
AN ACCEPTABLE SYMPTOM STATE
If original
patient expectations are not met with back surgery,
what is an “acceptable symptom state” for that back pain patient? What can he/she live with? For patients with chronic non-specific low back pain (with or
without active discopathy), 54% reported having an acceptable symptom
state at 1 month of care. Specifically, patient-reported acceptable symptoms included: 47.5 for lumbar pain, 30.5 for radicular pain, 39.3 for
disability, 10.0 for anxiety, and 6.7 for depression. (2) Apple Country Chiropractic knows no pain is the preferred state and is ready to talk
with our Williamson chiropractic patients their options and possible
outcomes.
DECIDING ON TREATMENT OPTIONS
Deciding
whether to have back surgery is a big decision. Evidence-based medicine sees that the patient at the center of care. What is
the patient perspective of this care? How is the patient perspective taken
into consideration in treatment planning and choosing from available options? A recent paper pointed
out that the patient’s social, psychological, and other non-clinical
characteristics must be considered in planning care. (3)
One issue in the back-surgery decision that reportedly influences
the decision and the outcome expectation is opioid use. Lower dose and shorter-time-taking
opioid use patients expected more complete improvement opposed to non-users. They also had higher
expectations of positive outcome than higher-dose opioid patients. (4) For many patients, the prospect of work is goal of back pain treatment which is encouraging
according to this new report on how back pain patient recovery
expectations sway clinical outcomes. A review of
60 studies reported that a patient’s recovery expectations are
probably strongly associated with future work participation. (5) Apple Country Chiropractic uses
effective, nonsurgical care of back pain to meet patient expectations once the research on outcomes for other back pain
sufferers is presented and understood. Williamson chiropractic care keeps the back pain patient at its center.
CONTACT Apple Country Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Anthony Galante on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr.
Michael Johnson as he described how Cox®
Technic System of Spinal Pain Management and chiropractic treatment helped manage back pain for a patient who was adamant about not wanting back surgery.
Make your next Williamson
chiropractic visit soon. Apple Country Chiropractic invites you to ponder and answer the question of your
expectations for our treatment so that we can both be happy
with the outcome!