Guidelines and recommendations for so many
things from how to properly replace a light bulb
to appropriately decide on whether to do back surgery pervade
our world. Guidelines are valued by people facing
a new challenge or a new health condition for the first
time. Guidelines for the care of back pain have been available
through the years, many listing non-surgical
care including spinal manipulation as first line treatment. Just how well are
those guidelines followed by involved healthcare practitioners,
by back pain patients? Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka found these recent reports attention-getting and thought
our Sitka chiropractic patients would, too. We can all
use them to create and follow a guideline-based
treatment plan.
BACK PAIN TREATMENT GUIDELINES
Your Sitka chiropractor keeps
abreast of the current guidelines to best assist you, our Sitka
back pain patient. Back in 2009, the American College of Physicians listed spinal
manipulation in its guidelines’
recommendations of appropriate spinal pain care choices.
(1) Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka utilizes the well-documented Cox® Technic
System of Spinal Pain Management which has a published algorithm of
decision-making for patients who have pain below the knee
and patients with pain that does not
extend below the knee with a goal of 50% improvement in a month of care. These guidelines came out in 1996
and have been tested in clinic-based data collections through
the years. (2) Such guidelines with research support and
proper clinical application help
our Sitka chiropractic patients!
ARE GUIDELINES BEING FOLLOWED?
We hope so! Nearly 64% of chiropractors say they use (Cox®)
flexion distraction with their spine pain patients and have the algorithm/guideline
accessible to them. Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka is one of those
chiropractors. Beyond chiropractic, general guidelines for back
pain care are also accessible. Are they followed? A recent review of chiropractic and OT/PT use among 146,087 adults
with low back pain in the past 3 months documented that
chiropractic care or OT/PT care for low back pain increased after
clinical guidelines recommending their care were announced in
2016. Between 2002 and 2018, a little less than a third of those
adults with low back pain said that they were getting chiropractic and/or PT/OT with an increase
to a third after the 2016 clinical guidelines were released.
(3) This does show that guidelines help
with treatment planning but are not always followed. In Denmark
where guidelines for low back pain care are defined
for primary care before being referred found that 33% of
patients had not gone through an adequate course of treatment
in primary care before referral. The patients were on
average 53 years old with nearly 50% of them reporting
that they’d had pain for more than a
year, and 75% saying that they had
pain below the knee. (4) Struggles in the healthcare system to abide
by guidelines are seemingly global.
CHIROPRACTIC’S ROLE
A group of chiropractic leaders compiled
their thoughts on the role of the chiropractor in his/her own
practice, with his/her own patients, within the healthcare community, and
within society for healthcare. Very interesting! Independently,
chiropractors reported themselves as experienced
and well-educated spine and musculoskeletal care experts who delivered
evidence-based care based on the current research,
clinical expertise, and patient values. They provided
patient-centered care that extends to cooperating with other
healthcare providers with the best interest of the patient in mind. (5) Using guidelines, chiropractors are
sure that they can help their back pain patients with
those patient’s best interests in mind.
CONTACT Arctic Chiropractic, Sitka
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Ted Siciliano on The Back Doctors Podcast with
Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes his use
of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management to help
a patient dealing with back pain and foot drop.
Schedule your Sitka chiropractic
appointment now. Facing a serious episode of back
pain is certainly not comparable to changing a light bulb for
the first time, but it is comforting to know that there are available to navigate the way through the task!