Oxford Chiropractic Healthy News - March 2018

Healthcare professions are establishing recommendations for practitioners to adhere to when dispensing health care with hopes to stimulate conversations between patients and their healthcare providers and among healthcare providers themselves. Your Oxford chiropractor at Satterwhite Chiropractic is always ready for such a conversation about Oxford back pain. Back pain is a big health concern affecting 80% of us in Oxford at some point in life. Back pain is managed by many kinds of physicians in many kinds of professional societies. Their societal recommendations are similar regarding imaging (Do not perform within the first six weeks of pain unless there are “red flags.”), testing non-surgical care ahead of imaging and/or referring for back surgery, and moving the patient care from passive care to active care. More specifically, the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation recommends not ordering repeat epidural steroid injections without checking for the response to the latter one and not prescribing opioid drugs for acute disabling low back pain without assessment and a test of other alternatives. (2) The American Chiropractic Association recommends not ordering repeat imaging to monitor progress of care, not getting 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 getting 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 ordering EMG studies to determine the cause of spine pain, and not ordering 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 referring 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 Oxford back pain patient or concerned loved one, to choose wisely the path of care for back pain relief. Consider these professions’ recommendations for back pain care to start a conversation with your Oxford chiropractor, your Oxford back pain specialist, at Satterwhite Chiropractic as you choose the type of care suitable for your Oxford back pain relief.

 

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

Common Oxford non-surgical interventions for Oxford 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 Oxford back surgery is spinal manipulation (10) of which 90% (11) is done 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 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 Oxford back pain to your Oxford chiropractor’s office! Make it your first Oxford back pain relief healthcare stop!