Williamson Chiropractic Care Instead of an Emergency Room Visit and Pain Meds for Back Pain

Emergency room physicians are trying to figure out what is best to do for back pain patients who choose the ER for help. It’s a quandry for them, especially since almost 3 million such patients with undifferentiated musculoskeletal low back pain choose the emergency room for help each year! (1) Unless there is cauda equina syndrome demanding surgery or an infection, pain is the issue. How best can a Williamson ER doc help? How can an ER doctor provide higher value care? (2) Imaging and medication. What can the Williamson chiropractic back pain specialist offer? Spinal manipulation and nutrients. Chiropractic has published about successfully managing back pain.

EMERGENCY ROOM: IMAGING

The ER performs a lot of imaging. One in 3 patients who go to the emergency department for back pain (as opposed to 1 in 4 who seek care from a primary care physician) gets imaging ordered: simple imaging 26%, complex imaging 8.2%. (3) Today’s imaging guidelines don’t support this as they recommend holding off on imaging for 4-6 weeks of conservative care before imaging. (4) Maybe patients are telling ER doctors that they have been under such care already? Probably not since only 34% of patients who go to an ER tell the emergency department physician that they get healthcare options like chiropractors, massage therapy, acupuncture and the like. (5) What about the pain?

EMERGENCY ROOM: MEDICATIONS

Pain relief, it seems, is what they can offer. Researchers have looked at a variety of pain medication combinations ER doctors have used to figure out what is effective. What have they found? Stronger pain medication options don’t offer much of a difference. Adding baclofen, metaxalone, or tizanidine to ibuprofen does not appear to up function or pain any more than placebo plus ibuprofen by 1 week after an ED visit for acute low back pain. (6,7) Mixing ibuprofen and acetaminophen didn’t reduce pain scores or the need for other analgesic pain meds compared with either ibuprofen or acetaminophen alone in emergency room patients with acute musculoskeletal injuries. (8) As a matter of fact, 48% of back pain patients who visit an ER for their back pain continued to experience functional impairment 3 months later as well as 42% reported moderate or severe pain. 46% say they’ve used some type of analgesic pain reliever in the last day. There are short and long-term problems for ER patients with low back pain. (1) This may all be frustrating for ER physicians and their patients but not always for chiropractors and their chiropractic back pain patients. The Williamson chiropractic back pain specialist at Apple Country Chiropractic is equipped with the best of chiropractic care for Williamson back pain relief.

CHIROPRACTIC: MANIPULATION AND NUTRIENTS

Your Williamson chiropractor understands. Experience with chiropractic spinal manipulation via The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management with the addition of nutrition like chondroitin sulfate, glucosamine sulfate and curcurmin and turmeric boosts your Williamson chiropractor’s confidence that back pain relief and management for many otherwise frustrated Williamson back pain patients is possible.

Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Michael Schneider on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson who describes the role of the primary spine physician who would be the physician to turn to for back pain issues.

CONTACT Apple Country Chiropractic

Schedule a Williamson chiropractic appointment with Apple Country Chiropractic especially if an emergency department trip has not resulted in the pain relief you hoped. Williamson chiropractic care has shared a well-documented and researched way to manage back pain.

	Apple Country Chiropractic welcomes Williamson back pain patients to the clinic instead of the emergency room for pain meds whenever possible. 
 
« View All Nutrition Articles
"This information and website content is not intended to diagnose, guarantee results, or recommend specific treatment or activity. It is designed to educate and inform only. Please consult your physician for a thorough examination leading to a diagnosis and well-planned treatment strategy. See more details on the DISCLAIMER page. Content is reviewed by Dr. James M. Cox I."