McHenry Chiropractic Healthy News - March 2018

Healthcare professions are establishing recommendations for practitioners to follow when delivering health care in hopes of opening conversations between patients and their healthcare providers and among healthcare providers themselves. Your McHenry chiropractor at OrthoIllinois Chiropractic is always ready for such a conversation about McHenry back pain. Back pain is a big health concern upsetting 80% of us in McHenry at some point in life. Back pain is dealt with by many types of physicians in many kinds of professional societies. Their societal recommendations are related regarding imaging (Do not order in the first six weeks of pain except if there are “red flags.”), trying non-surgical care ahead of imaging and/or referring for back surgery, and shifting the patient care from passive to active care. More precisely, the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation recommends not ordering repeat epidural steroid injections without checking for the reaction to the latter one and not prescribing opioid drugs for acute disabling low back pain without assessment and a trial of other alternatives. (2) The American Chiropractic Association recommends not performing repeat imaging to monitor progress of care, not obtaining spinal imaging for acute low back pain in the first 6 weeks of pain unless there are red flags, and avoiding long term usage of passive care but instead move the patient to active care. (3) The American College of Emergency Room Physicians recommends avoiding lumbar spine imaging in non-traumatic back pain unless there are severe or progressive neurological deficits or a suspicion of an underlying issue. (4) The American College of Physicians recommends not getting imaging studies in patients with non-specific low back pain. (5) The North American Spine Society recommends not suggesting bed rest for more than 48 hours for low back pain, not ordering EMG studies to determine the cause of spine pain, and not ordering advanced spinal imaging (ex MRI) in the first 6 weeks of non-specific acute low back pain without red flags. (6) The Danish Health Authority recommends not sending patients for back surgery for a lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy except if the severe and debilitating back pain persists for 12 weeks notwithstanding non-surgical treatment. (7) It is up to you, the McHenry back pain patient or concerned loved one, to choose wisely the course of care for back pain relief. Consider these professions’ recommendations for back pain care to start a conversation with your McHenry chiropractor, your McHenry back pain specialist, at OrthoIllinois Chiropractic as you decide on the type of care proper for your McHenry back pain relief.

 

TIP OF THE MONTH: Try Non-Surgical Interventions for McHenry Back Pain

Common McHenry non-surgical interventions for McHenry back pain relief are pain medications, exercise, manual manipulation, massage, and heat/ice. (8, 9) Included in the top non-surgical interventions to try before McHenry back surgery is spinal manipulation (10) of which 90% (11) is done by chiropractors. The Cox Technic System of Spine Care – spinal manipulation with exercise, nutrition and passive care for pain and inflammation reduction with increased active care emphasis as pain decreases – matches Choosing Wisely recommendations as it works toward 50% relief of pain within 30 days of care (which is more than the 30% or greater improvement in self-reported pain and function sought by medicine [12]) before advanced imaging or surgical referral without red flags. Bring your McHenry back pain to your McHenry chiropractor’s office! Make it your first McHenry back pain relief healthcare stop!