For many, ocean waves are calming. For McHenry back pain and
neck pain patients, experiencing the wave of relief from
pain can be the same if they understand it. For those who don’t get that pain ebbs and flows while healing, the wave of
healing can be frustrating. OrthoIllinois Chiropractic helps our
patients understand the wave of healing, are
aware of the research supporting our relieving treatment plan, and celebrate
the pain relief they experience.
DESCRIBING AND RATING PAIN
Since back and neck pain experiences are complete
with fluctuations of symptoms as they heal,
researchers tried to come up with a system
to classify neck pain patients and their pain patterns by studying
1208 neck pain patients. They produced 16 subgroups! Wow.
The largest subgroup was “mild persistent fluctuating” with 25%
of the patients in it rating their pain as a 3.4 out of 10 (0 no pain). The “moderate episodic” group had 24% with a pain rating of 2.7. “Persistent fluctuating” pain patients
were those disturbed more by pain than the others. (1) Instead
of just defining and rating pain, researchers had
patients portray their pain using a visual picture scale about
their pain intensity and symptomatology over a year. The
patient responses were very similar in explaining
the pain intensity but not as much for the symptoms and their
characteristics. (2) OrthoIllinois Chiropractic observes that everybody
senses pain in slightly different ways
and that they find certain types of pain more annoying than others
do. All of our McHenry chiropractic patients are distinctive!
THE HEALING “WAVE”
For a year, another study followed
1124 neck pain patients who saw a chiropractor. Neck pain patients
having “persistent pain” – 75% to 63% over the
year - and very minor pain stayed relatively stable. Those
who had “episodic pain” – 21% to 24% over the year – had greater changes in their pain patterns. (3) This is why we inform
our back and neck pain patients that recovery is more wavelike
than a straight line. While healing, pain comes and goes.
Going away more than it comes is a solid signal of
healing and pain relief. OrthoIllinois Chiropractic reminds our McHenry
neck pain and back pain patients to not be discouraged along the way. We’ll get there together!
CHIROPRACTIC IN MANAGING BACK AND NECK PAIN PATTERNS
Research such as described here about
the patterns of neck pain and back pain sufferers emphasizes
the on-going need for them to have partners like their
chiropractors as well as general practitioners to handle
it, understand it, and care for it. One researcher explained
how a patient who underwent spinal surgery 30 years ago now had
neck pain and cervical arm pain due to adjacent segment disease – a condition
often seen in spinal discs above and below a spinal level that
underwent back surgery - was treated with cervical manipulation, flexion
distraction decompression (Cox®), soft-tissue mobilization, and therapeutic ultrasound
for resolution of pain. (4) Again, pain relief is seldom
sudden, but rather slow and steady with treatment,
coming/going pain intensity, patience, and appreciation for the relief attained
be it 50%, 70% or 90% as supported by the 50% Rule of Cox®
Technic.
CONTACT OrthoIllinois Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. John Murray on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he shares patient
cases that were difficultcomplex and yet attained
relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management with
time.
Make your McHenry chiropractic
appointment soon. Together, we’ll aim for
the calming wave of healing and celebrate the pain relief.
