For many, seeing and hearing ocean waves is calming. For Sitka back pain and neck pain patients, experiencing the wave of relief from pain can be the same if they understand it. For those who do not get that pain will come and go while healing, the wave of healing can be upsetting. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka 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 filled with fluctuations of symptoms as they heal, researchers tried to come up with a method to classify neck pain patients and their pain patterns by studying 1208 neck pain patients. They produced 16 subgroups! Wow. The biggest subgroup was “mild persistent fluctuating” with 25% of the patients in it reporting pain as a 3.4 out of 10 (0 no pain). The “moderate episodic” group had 24% reporting pain at a 2.7. “Persistent fluctuating” pain patients were those bothered more by pain than the others. (1) Instead of just describing and rating pain, researchers had patients portray their pain using a visual picture scale about their pain intensity and symptomatology over 12 months. The patient responses were quite similar in explaining the pain intensity but not as much for the symptoms and their characteristics. (2) Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka observes that everybody experiences pain in slightly different ways and that they find certain types of pain more annoying than others do. All of our Sitka chiropractic patients are distinctive!
THE HEALING “WAVE”
For 12 months, another study tracked 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 forewarn 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 positive signal of healing and pain relief. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka repeatedly tells our Sitka neck pain and back pain patients to not be discouraged along the way. We will get there together!
CHIROPRACTIC IN MANAGING BACK AND NECK PAIN PATTERNS
Research such as explained here about the patterns of neck pain and back pain sufferers emphasizes the on-going need for them to have partners like their chiropractors along with 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 experienced 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 rarely 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 Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka
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 found relief with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management with time.
Schedule your Sitka chiropractic appointment soon. Together, we’ll aim for the calming wave of healing and celebrate the pain relief.
