Guidelines and recommendations for everything from how to correctly change 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 pain for the first
time. Guidelines for the care of back pain have been issued
for years, many recommending non-surgical
care including spinal manipulation as first line treatment. Just how well are
those guidelines followed by relevant healthcare providers,
by back pain patients? Manahawkin Chiropractic Center found these newly
published reports attention-getting and thought
our Manahawkin chiropractic patients would, also. We can all
use them to design and go along with a guideline-based
treatment plan.
BACK PAIN TREATMENT GUIDELINES
Your Manahawkin chiropractor keeps
abreast of the current guidelines to best help you, our Manahawkin
back pain patient. Back in 2009, the American College of Physicians added spinal manipulation to its guidelines’
recommendations of appropriate spinal pain care options.
(1) Manahawkin Chiropractic Center utilizes the well-documented Cox® Technic
System of Spinal Pain Management which has a published algorithm of
decision-making for patients suffering pain below the knee
and patients who have pain that does not
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 Manahawkin 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. Manahawkin Chiropractic Center is one of those
chiropractors. Beyond chiropractic, broad guidelines for back
pain care are available. 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 bit less than a third of those
adults with low back pain said that they were going
through chiropractic and/or PT/OT with an increase
to a third after the 2016 clinical guidelines were published.
(3) This does demonstrate that guidelines assist
with treatment planning but are not always followed. In Denmark
where guidelines for low back pain care are defined
for primary care before referral found that 33% of
patients had not undergone an adequate course of treatment
in primary care before being referred. The patients were on
average 53 years old with nearly 50% of them saying
that they experienced pain for over a
year, and 75% reporting
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 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. Quite interesting! Individually,
chiropractors reported themselves as competent
and well-educated spine and musculoskeletal care experts who delivered
evidence-based care founded 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 help their back pain patients with
their best interests in mind.
CONTACT Manahawkin Chiropractic Center
Listen to this PODCAST
with Dr. Ted Siciliano on The Back Doctors Podcast with
Dr. Michael Johnson as he illustrates his use
of The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management to help
a patient dealing with back pain and foot drop.
Schedule your Manahawkin chiropractic
appointment soon. Facing a serious bout 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 available to best manage
each task!