Groton Chiropractic Healthy News - March 2018

Every profession is establishing recommendations for practitioners to follow when delivering health care with hopes to stimulate conversations between patients and their healthcare providers and among healthcare providers themselves. Your Groton chiropractor at Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office is always ready for such a conversation about Groton back pain. Back pain is a huge health issue affecting 80% of us in Groton at some point in life. Back pain is managed by many sorts of physicians in many kinds of specialist societies. Their societal recommendations are related regarding imaging (Don’t perform 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 progressing the patient care from passive care to active care. More specifically, the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation recommends not ordering repeat epidural steroid injections without checking for the reaction to the last one and not prescribing opioid drugs for acute disabling low back pain without assessment and a test of other alternatives. (2) The American Chiropractic Association recommends not ordering repeat imaging to monitor progress of care, not obtaining spinal imaging for acute low back pain in the first 6 weeks of pain unless red flags are present, and staying away from 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 except if there are severe or progressive neurological deficits or a suspicion of an underlying condition. (4) The American College of Physicians recommends not obtaining imaging studies in patients with non-specific low back pain. (5) The North American Spine Society recommends not advocating bed rest for more than 48 hours for low back pain, not ordering EMG studies to figure out the cause of spine pain, and not getting advanced spinal imaging (ex MRI) in the first six 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 regardless of non-surgical treatment. (7) It is up to you, the Groton 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 begin a conversation with your Groton chiropractor, your Groton back pain specialist, at Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office as you choose the type of care appropriate for your Groton back pain relief.

 

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

Common Groton non-surgical interventions for Groton 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 Groton 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 increased active care importance as pain decreases – fits 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 in absence of red flags. Bring your Groton back pain to your Groton chiropractor’s office! Make it your first Groton back pain relief healthcare stop!