Oxford Chiropractics Role in Back Pain Guidelines

Guidelines and recommendations for so many things from how to properly change a light bulb to when to do back surgery fill our world. Guidelines are appreciated by people confronting a new task or a new pain for the first time. Guidelines for the care of back pain have been published for years, many listing non-surgical care including spinal manipulation as first line treatment. Just how well are those guidelines followed by relevant healthcare providers, by back pain patients? Satterwhite Chiropractic found these newly published reports interesting and thought our Oxford chiropractic patients would, also. We can all use them to create and go along with a guideline-based treatment plan.

BACK PAIN TREATMENT GUIDELINES

Your Oxford chiropractor is aware of the current guidelines to best assist you, our Oxford back pain patient. Back in 2009, the American College of Physicians added spinal manipulation to its guidelines’ recommendations of suitable spinal pain care options. (1) Satterwhite Chiropractic utilizes the well-documented Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management which has a published algorithm of decision-making for patients with pain below the knee and patients who experience pain that doesn’t extend below the knee with a goal of 50% improvement in 30 days or so of care. These guidelines came out in 1996 and have been tested in clinic-based data collections through the years. (2) Such guidelines with research support and proper clinical application help our Oxford chiropractic patients!

ARE GUIDELINES BEING FOLLOWED?

We hope so! Nearly 64% of chiropractors say they use (Cox®) flexion distraction with their spine pain patients and have the algorithm/guideline available to them. Satterwhite Chiropractic is one of those chiropractors. Beyond chiropractic, general guidelines for back pain care are also accessible. Are they followed? A newly completed review of chiropractic and OT/PT use among 146,087 adults with low back pain in the past 3 months found that chiropractic care or OT/PT care for low back pain rose after clinical guidelines recommending their care were introduced in 2016. Between 2002 and 2018, a bit less than a third of said adults with low back pain reported going through chiropractic and/or PT/OT with an increase to a third after the 2016 clinical guidelines were published. (3) This does demonstrate that guidelines assist with treatment planning but are not always followed. In Denmark where guidelines for low back pain care are charted for primary care before being referred found that 33% of patients had not gone through an adequate course of treatment in primary care before referral. The patients were on average 53 years old with almost 50% of them reporting that they experienced pain for over a year, and 75% reporting pain below the knee. (4) Struggles in the healthcare system to abide by guidelines are seemingly global.

CHIROPRACTIC’S ROLE

A group of chiropractic leaders compiled their thoughts on the role of the chiropractor in his/her own practice, with his/her own patients, within the healthcare community, and within society for healthcare. Quite interesting! Individually, chiropractors described themselves as capable and well-educated spine and musculoskeletal care experts who provided evidence-based care founded on the current research, clinical expertise, and patient values. They delivered patient-centered care that spreads to cooperating with other healthcare providers with the best interest of the patient in mind. (5) Using guidelines, chiropractors are confident that they can help their back pain patients with those patient’s best interests in mind.

CONTACT Satterwhite Chiropractic

Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Ted Siciliano on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes his use of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management to relieve a patient dealing with back pain and foot drop.

Schedule your Oxford chiropractic appointment today. Facing a serious bout of back pain is certainly not equivalent to changing a light bulb for the first time, but it’s comforting to know that there are published guidelines to best manage each task! 

 
Oxford chiropractic guidelines to manage back pain today and tomorrow 
« View All Featured 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."