Guidelines and recommendations for so many
things from how to properly change a light bulb
to when to do back surgery pervade
our daily lives. Guidelines are valued by people confronting
a new task or a new pain for the first
time. Guidelines for the care of back pain have been circulated
through the years, many recommending non-surgical
care including spinal manipulation as first line treatment. Just how well are
those guidelines followed by relevant healthcare providers,
by back pain sufferers? Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation found these recent reports attention-getting and thought
our Tonawanda chiropractic patients would, also. We can all
use them to design and go along with a guideline-based
treatment plan.
BACK PAIN TREATMENT GUIDELINES
Your Tonawanda chiropractor is aware of the current guidelines to best assist you, our Tonawanda
back pain patient. Back in 2009, the American College of Physicians added spinal manipulation to its guidelines’
recommendations of appropriate spinal pain care choices.
(1) Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation utilizes the well-documented Cox® Technic
System of Spinal Pain Management which has a published algorithm of
decision-making for patients suffering pain below the knee
and patients with pain that doesn’t
extend below the knee with a goal of 50% improvement in a month of care. These guidelines were released in 1996
and have been tested in clinic-based data collections through
the years. (2) Such guidelines with research backing and
proper clinical application build confidence that there is hope to
our Tonawanda 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. Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation is one of those
chiropractors. Beyond chiropractic, broad guidelines for back
pain care are available. Are they followed? A recent 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 announced in
2016. Between 2002 and 2018, a bit less than a third of said
adults with low back pain said that they were undergoing chiropractic and/or PT/OT with a rise to a third after the 2016 clinical guidelines were released.
(3) This does demonstrate that guidelines help
with treatment direction but are not always followed. In Denmark
where guidelines for low back pain care are defined
for primary care before referral found that 33% of
patients had not gone through an adequate course of treatment
in primary care before being referred. The patients were on
average 53 years old with nearly 50% of them saying
that they experienced pain for more than 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 ideas 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. Very interesting! Independently,
chiropractors described themselves as competent
and well-educated spine and musculoskeletal care experts who offered
evidence-based care founded on the current research,
clinical expertise, and patient values. They provided
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
sure that they can help their back pain patients with
their best interests in mind.
CONTACT Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation
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.
Make your Tonawanda 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 is comforting to know that there are published
guidelines to navigate the way through the task!