Emergency room physicians are working on figuring out what is best to offer back pain
patients who come to the ER for help. It’s a quandry
for them, particularly since nearly 3 million such
patients with undifferentiated musculoskeletal low back pain visit the emergency room for help annually! (1) Unless there is
cauda equina syndrome demanding surgery or an infection, pain is the issue. What
can a Tonawanda ER do?
How can an ER doctor deliver higher value care? (2) Imaging and
medication. What can the Tonawanda chiropractic back pain specialist offer?
Spinal manipulation and nutrients. Chiropractic has published about successful
management of back pain.
EMERGENCY ROOM: IMAGING
The ER does lots of
imaging. One in 3 patients who go to the emergency department
for back pain (compared to 1 in 4 who visit a primary care physician) has imaging done:
simple imaging 26%, complex imaging 8.2%. (3) Today’s imaging guidelines
don’t support this as they say to hold off
on imaging for 4-6 weeks of conservative care before imaging. (4) Maybe patients
are letting the ER doctors know that they have been using
such care already? Not likely as only 34% of
patients who go to an ER share with the emergency department
physician that they use healthcare options like chiropractors,
massage therapy, acupuncture and the like. (5) What about the pain?
EMERGENCY ROOM: MEDICATIONS
Pain relief, it
seems, is what they can offer. Researchers have studied
a variety of pain medication combinations ER doctors have used
to see what is effective. What have
they discovered? Stronger pain medication options do not
offer much of a difference. Adding baclofen, metaxalone, or tizanidine to
ibuprofen doesn’t appear to improve
function or pain any more than placebo plus ibuprofen by 1 week
after an ED visit for acute low back pain. (6,7) Combining
ibuprofen and acetaminophen didn’t reduce pain
scores or the need for other analgesic pain meds compared with either ibuprofen
or acetaminophen alone for emergency room patients with acute
musculoskeletal injuries. (8) As a matter of fact, 48% of back pain patients
who go to an emergency room for their back pain still
had functional impairment 3 months later as well as
42% said they had moderate or severe pain. 46% report using some type of analgesic pain reliever in the last
day. There are short and long-term problems for ER patients
with low back pain. (1) This might be frustrating for ER physicians and their patients but not typically
for chiropractors and their chiropractic back pain patients. The
Tonawanda chiropractic back pain specialist at Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation is
equipped with the best of chiropractic care for
Tonawanda back pain relief.
CHIROPRACTIC: MANIPULATION AND NUTRIENTS
Your Tonawanda chiropractor understands.
Familiarity with chiropractic spinal manipulation via
The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management with the addition of
nutrition like chondroitin sulfate, glucosamine sulfate and curcurmin and
turmeric supports your Tonawanda chiropractor’s confidence that back
pain relief and management for many otherwise frustrated Tonawanda
back pain patients is promising.
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Michael Schneider on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson who describes
the goal of the primary spine physician who would be the physician
to turn to for back pain issues.
CONTACT Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation
Schedule a Tonawanda chiropractic appointment
with Chiropractic Spine Sports And Rehabilitation especially if an ER trip
has not produced the pain relief you wanted.
Tonawanda chiropractic care has figured out a well-documented
and researched way to manage back pain.
"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."