Emergency room physicians are working on figuring out what is optimal to do for back pain
patients who visit the ER for help. It’s a quandry
for them, especially since almost 3 million such
patients with undifferentiated musculoskeletal low back pain go
to 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 McHenry ER do?
How can an ER doctor deliver higher value care? (2) Imaging and
medication. What can the McHenry chiropractic back pain specialist offer?
Spinal manipulation and nutrients. Chiropractic has published about successfully managing back pain.
EMERGENCY ROOM: IMAGING
The ER performs lots of
imaging. One in 3 patients who visit the emergency department
for back pain (compared to 1 in 4 who go to a primary care physician) gets imaging done:
simple imaging 26%, complex imaging 8.2%. (3) Today’s imaging guidelines
do not support this as they recommend holding off
on imaging for 4-6 weeks of conservative care before imaging. (4) Maybe patients
are telling ER doctors that they have been using
such care already? Not likely since 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 looked at
a variety of pain medication combinations ER doctors have prescribed
to see what works best. What have
they found? Stronger pain medication options do not
offer much of a difference. Adding baclofen, metaxalone, or tizanidine to
ibuprofen doesn’t appear to up
function or pain any more than placebo plus ibuprofen within a 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 in emergency room patients with acute
musculoskeletal injuries. (8) As a matter of fact, 48% of back pain patients
who visit an ER for their back pain still
had functional impairment 3 months later as well as
42% reported moderate or severe pain. 46% report using some type of analgesic pain reliever in the day prior. There are short and long-term problems for ER patients
with low back pain. (1) This may all be frustrating for emergency
department docs and their patients but not always
for chiropractors and their chiropractic back pain patients. The
McHenry chiropractic back pain specialist at OrthoIllinois Chiropractic is
armed with the best of chiropractic care for
McHenry back pain relief.
CHIROPRACTIC: MANIPULATION AND NUTRIENTS
Your McHenry chiropractor understands.
Experience 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 boosts your McHenry chiropractor’s confidence that back
pain relief and management for many otherwise frustrated McHenry
back pain patients is possible.
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Michael Schneider on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson who shares
the role of the primary spine physician who would be the physician
to turn to for back pain issues.
CONTACT OrthoIllinois Chiropractic
Schedule a McHenry chiropractic appointment
with OrthoIllinois Chiropractic especially if an emergency department trip
has not produced the pain relief you hoped.
McHenry 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."