Eugene Chiropractic Healthy News - March 2018

Every profession is setting forth recommendations for practitioners to adhere to when dispensing health care with hopes to stimulate conversations between patients and their healthcare providers and among healthcare providers themselves. Your Eugene chiropractor at Rethwill Chiropractic Clinic is always ready for such a conversation about Eugene back pain. Back pain is a huge health issue affecting 80% of us in Eugene at some point in life. Back pain is managed by many types of physicians in many types of specialist societies. Their societal recommendations are comparable concerning imaging (Do not do within the first six weeks of pain except if there are “red flags.”), testing non-surgical care ahead of imaging and/or referring for back surgery, and moving the patient care from passive care 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 test of other alternatives. (2) The American Chiropractic Association recommends not performing repeat imaging to see how the patient is responding, 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 shift the patient to active care. (3) The American College of Emergency Room Physicians recommends avoiding lumbar spine imaging in non-traumatic back pain except if there are severe or progressive neurological deficits or a suspicion of an underlying issue. (4) The American College of Physicians recommends not ordering 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) within the first six 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 despite non-surgical treatment. (7) It’s up to you, the Eugene back pain patient or concerned loved one, to choose wisely the course of care for back pain relief. Use these professions’ recommendations for back pain care to guide a conversation with your Eugene chiropractor, your Eugene back pain specialist, at Rethwill Chiropractic Clinic as you choose the type of care suitable for your Eugene back pain relief.

 

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

Common Eugene non-surgical interventions for Eugene 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 Eugene back surgery is spinal manipulation (10) of which 90% (11) is performed 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 importance as pain decreases – matches 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 Eugene back pain to Rethwill Chiropractic Clinic! Make it your first Eugene back pain relief healthcare stop!