Guidelines and recommendations for so many
things from how to properly replace a light bulb
to appropriately decide on whether to do back surgery fill
our world. Guidelines are appreciated by people confronting
a new task or a new health condition for the first
time. Guidelines for the care of back pain have been published
for 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 sufferers? Back And Neck Care Center found these newly
published reports interesting and thought
our Severna Park chiropractic patients would, also. We can all
use them to design and follow a guideline-based
treatment plan.
BACK PAIN TREATMENT GUIDELINES
Your Severna Park chiropractor keeps
abreast of the current guidelines to best assist you, our Severna Park
back pain patient. Back in 2009, the American College of Physicians listed spinal
manipulation in its guidelines’
recommendations of suitable spinal pain care choices.
(1) Back And Neck Care Center 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 who experience pain that doesn’t
extend below the knee with a goal of 50% improvement in a month of care. These guidelines were released in 1996
and have been tested in clinic-based data collections through
the years. (2) Such guidelines with research backing and
proper clinical application help
our Severna Park 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. Back And Neck Care Center is one of those
chiropractors. Beyond chiropractic, general guidelines for back
pain care are available. Are they followed? A newly
completed 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 introduced in
2016. Between 2002 and 2018, a little less than a third of those
adults with low back pain reported going
through chiropractic and/or PT/OT with an increase
to a third after the 2016 clinical guidelines were released.
(3) This does show that guidelines assist
with treatment planning but are not always followed. In Denmark
where guidelines for low back pain care are documented
for primary care before being referred found that 33% of
patients had not undergone an adequate course of treatment
in primary care before referral. The patients were on
average 53 years old with nearly 50% of them saying
that they had pain for more than a
year, and 75% saying that they had
pain below the knee. (4) Struggles in the healthcare system to follow guidelines are seemingly global.
CHIROPRACTIC’S ROLE
A group of chiropractic leaders shared
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! Individually,
chiropractors reported themselves as capable
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 spreads to cooperating with other
healthcare providers in the
best interests of the patient. (5) Using guidelines, chiropractors are
confident that they can assist their back pain patients with
those patient’s best interests in mind.
CONTACT Back And Neck Care Center
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Ted Siciliano on The Back Doctors Podcast with
Dr. Michael Johnson as he illustrates how he used The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management to relieve
a patient dealing with back pain and foot drop.
Schedule your Severna Park chiropractic
appointment soon. Facing a serious episode of back
pain is certainly not equivalent to changing a light bulb for
the first time, but it’s comforting to know that there are published
guidelines to best manage
each task!