What do you expect from your
chiropractic care of Tonawanda
back pain? That is a pivotal question. Research
reports that that questions of expectations plays
a role in back pain treatment outcome whether that treatment is surgical or conservative. Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation aspires
to listen to you and your expectations of our Tonawanda back
pain treatment and present the outcomes of our treatment
documented in practice and in
research.
INFLUENTIAL EXPECTATIONS FOR BACK SURGERY OUTCOMES
A new research project scrutinized
patient and surgeon expectations of back surgery. Patients expected full
relief and improvement of their back pain after lumbar spine surgery. Surgeons
expected improvement that varied from a little to a lot depending
on the patient and his/her specific condition. Whose
expectations were met? The surgeons’
expectations. Two years after the back surgery, the patient-reported outcomes met the surgeon’s expectations.
The researchers emphasized that effective communication about expectations
may well further better outcomes. (1) That’s
why Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation spends time with each Tonawanda
back pain patient early on in care, ensuring
that the source of pain and its treatment plan are well-described.
If not, ask us!
AN ACCEPTABLE SYMPTOM STATE
If original
patient expectations are not met with back surgery,
what is an “acceptable symptom state” for that back pain patient? What can he/she live with? For patients with chronic non-specific low back pain (with or
without active discopathy), 54% reported having an acceptable symptom
state at 1 month of care. Specifically, patient-reported acceptable symptoms included: 47.5 for lumbar pain, 30.5 for radicular pain, 39.3 for
disability, 10.0 for anxiety, and 6.7 for depression. (2) Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation realizes no pain is the preferred state and is ready to discuss
with our Tonawanda chiropractic patients their options and potential
outcomes.
DECIDING ON TREATMENT OPTIONS
The question of back surgery is a big issue. Evidence-based medicine sees that the patient at the center of care. What is
the patient perspective of this care? How is the patient perspective considered in treatment planning and choosing from available options? A recent paper pointed
out that the patient’s social, psychological, and other non-clinical
characteristics must be taken into account in planning care. (3)
One factor in the back-surgery decision that reportedly impacts
the decision and the outcome expectation is opioid use. Lower dose and shorter-time-taking
opioid use patients expected more complete improvement compared
with non-users. They also had higher
expectations of positive outcome than higher-dose opioid patients. (4) For a
lot of patients, the prospect of work is a light at the end of the
tunnel which is positive
according to this new report on how back pain patient recovery
expectations sway clinical outcomes. A review of
60 studies reported that a patient’s recovery expectations are
probably strongly associated with future work participation. (5) Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation employs
effective, nonsurgical care of back pain to meet patient expectations once the research on outcomes for other back pain
sufferers is presented and understood. Tonawanda chiropractic care keeps the back pain patient at its center.
CONTACT Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation
Check out this PODCAST
with Dr. Anthony Galante on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr.
Michael Johnson as he explained how Cox®
Technic System of Spinal Pain Management and chiropractic treatment helped manage back pain for a patient who was absolutely
positive about not wanting back surgery.
Set your next Tonawanda
chiropractic visit today. Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation wants to know your answer to the question of your
expectations for our treatment so that we can both be happy
with the outcome!