Emergency room physicians are working on figuring out what is best to do for back pain
patients who come to the ER for help. It is a dilemma
for them, especially since almost 3 million such
patients with undifferentiated musculoskeletal low back pain choose the emergency room for help each year! (1) Unless there is
cauda equina syndrome demanding surgery or an infection, pain is the issue. What
can a Severna Park ER do?
How can an ER doctor deliver higher value care? (2) Imaging and
medication. What can the Severna Park chiropractic back pain specialist provide?
Spinal manipulation and nutrients. Chiropractic has published about successfully managing back pain.
EMERGENCY ROOM: IMAGING
The ER performs a lot of
imaging. One in 3 patients who go to the emergency department
for back pain (as opposed to 1 in 4 who go to a primary care physician) gets imaging performed:
simple imaging 26%, complex imaging 8.2%. (3) Today’s imaging guidelines
do not support this as they say to hold off
on imaging for 4-6 weeks of conservative care before imaging. (4) Maybe patients
are letting the ER doctors know that they have been under
such care already? Not likely as only 34% of
patients who go to an ER share with the emergency department
physician that they use healthcare options like chiropractors,
massage therapy, acupuncture and the like. (5) What about the pain?
EMERGENCY ROOM: MEDICATIONS
Relief for the pain is what they focus on. Researchers have looked at
all sorts of pain medication combinations ER doctors have prescribed
to figure out what works best. What have
they found? Stronger pain medication options don’t
offer much of a difference. Adding baclofen, metaxalone, or tizanidine to
ibuprofen does not seem to improve
function or pain any more than placebo plus ibuprofen within a week
after an ED visit for acute low back pain. (6,7) Mixing
ibuprofen and acetaminophen didn’t decrease pain
scores or the need for other analgesic pain meds compared with either ibuprofen
or acetaminophen alone in emergency room patients with acute
musculoskeletal injuries. (8) As a matter of fact, 48% of back pain patients
who visit an ER for their back pain continued to experience functional impairment 3 months later as well as
42% reported moderate or severe pain. 46% say
they’ve used some type of analgesic pain reliever in the last
day. There are short and long-term problems for ER patients
with low back pain. (1) This might be frustrating for ER physicians and their patients but not always
for chiropractors and their chiropractic back pain patients. The
Severna Park chiropractic back pain specialist at Back And Neck Care Center is
prepared with the best of chiropractic care for
Severna Park back pain relief.
CHIROPRACTIC: MANIPULATION AND NUTRIENTS
Your Severna Park chiropractor gets it.
Experience with chiropractic spinal manipulation via
The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management with the addition of
nutrition like chondroitin sulfate, glucosamine sulfate and curcurmin and
turmeric supports your Severna Park chiropractor’s confidence that back
pain relief and management for many otherwise frustrated Severna Park
back pain patients is possible.
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Michael Schneider on The
Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson who shares
the goal of the primary spine physician who would be the physician
to seek out for back pain issues.
CONTACT Back And Neck Care Center
Schedule a Severna Park chiropractic appointment
with Back And Neck Care Center especially if an emergency department visit
has not produced the pain relief you hoped.
Severna Park chiropractic care has shared a well-documented
and researched way to manage back pain.
"This information and website content is not intended to diagnose, guarantee results, or recommend specific treatment or activity. It is designed to educate and inform only. Please consult your physician for a thorough examination leading to a diagnosis and well-planned treatment strategy. See more details on the
DISCLAIMER page. Content is reviewed by
Dr. James M. Cox I."