Sitka Chiropractic Healthy News - March 2018

Healthcare professions are establishing recommendations for practitioners to abide by when dispensing health care in hopes of opening conversations between patients and their healthcare providers and among healthcare providers themselves. Your Sitka chiropractor at Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka is always ready for such a conversation about Sitka back pain. Back pain is a huge health concern distressing 80% of us in Sitka at some point in life. Back pain is managed by many kinds of physicians in many types of specialist societies. Their societal recommendations are related concerning imaging (Do not do in the first six weeks of pain except if there are “red flags.”), trying non-surgical care before imaging and/or referring for back surgery, and moving the patient care from passive to active care. For example, the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation recommends not ordering repeat epidural steroid injections without evaluating the reaction to the latter one and not prescribing opioid drugs for acute disabling low back pain without evaluation and a test of other alternatives. (2) The American Chiropractic Association recommends not doing repeat imaging to monitor progress of care, not getting 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 sidestepping 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 using EMG studies to determine the cause of spine pain, and not getting advanced spinal imaging (ex MRI) within the first 6 weeks of non-specific acute low back pain with no red flags. (6) The Danish Health Authority recommends not referring patients for back surgery for a lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy unless the severe and debilitating back pain continues for 12 weeks in spite of non-surgical treatment. (7) It’s up to you, the Sitka back pain patient or concerned loved one, to choose wisely the path of care for back pain relief. Consider these professions’ recommendations for back pain care to guide a conversation with your Sitka chiropractor, your Sitka back pain specialist, at Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka as you decide on the type of care appropriate for your Sitka back pain relief.

 

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

Common Sitka non-surgical interventions for Sitka 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 Sitka back surgery is spinal manipulation (10) of which 90% (11) is delivered by chiropractors. The Cox Technic System of Spine Care – spinal manipulation with exercise, nutrition and passive care for pain and inflammation reduction with more active care emphasis as pain decreases – fits Choosing Wisely recommendations as it seeks 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 Sitka back pain to your Sitka chiropractor’s office! Make it your first Sitka back pain relief healthcare stop!