Fort Wayne Chiropractic Healthy News - March 2018

Healthcare professions are establishing recommendations for practitioners to adhere to when delivering health care with hopes to stimulate conversations between patients and their healthcare providers and among healthcare providers themselves. Your Fort Wayne chiropractor at Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc is always ready for such a conversation about Fort Wayne back pain. Back pain is a big health issue affecting 80% of us in Fort Wayne at some point in life. Back pain is dealt with by many types of physicians in many types of specialist societies. Their societal recommendations are similar concerning imaging (Don’t order within the first 6 weeks of pain except if there are “red flags.”), trying non-surgical care ahead of imaging and/or referring for back surgery, and moving the patient care from passive to active care. More precisely, the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation recommends not ordering repeat epidural steroid injections without evaluating the reaction to the last one and not prescribing opioid drugs for acute disabling low back pain without assessment and a trial of other alternatives. (2) The American Chiropractic Association recommends not doing repeat imaging to see how the patient is responding, not obtaining spinal imaging for acute low back pain in the first 6 weeks of pain unless there are red flags, and avoiding long term usage 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 unless there are severe or progressive neurological deficits or a suspicion of an underlying condition. (4) The American College of Physicians recommends not ordering 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 determine the cause of spine pain, and not getting advanced spinal imaging (ex MRI) in the first 6 weeks of non-specific acute low back pain with no red flags. (6) The Danish Health Authority recommends not sending patients for back surgery for a lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy unless the severe and debilitating back pain continues for 12 weeks regardless of non-surgical treatment. (7) It’s up to you, the Fort Wayne back pain patient or concerned loved one, to choose wisely the course of care for back pain relief. Consider these professions’ recommendations for back pain care to guide a conversation with your Fort Wayne chiropractor, your Fort Wayne back pain specialist, at Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc as you choose the type of care appropriate for your Fort Wayne back pain relief.

 

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

Common Fort Wayne non-surgical interventions for Fort Wayne 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 Fort Wayne 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 more active care emphasis 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 pursued by medicine [12]) before advanced imaging or surgical referral in absence of red flags. Bring your Fort Wayne back pain to Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc! Make it your first Fort Wayne back pain relief healthcare stop!