McHenry Chiropractic Healthy News - March 2018

Every profession is establishing recommendations for practitioners to follow when providing health care with hopes to stimulate conversations between patients and their healthcare providers and among healthcare providers themselves. Your McHenry chiropractor at OrthoIllinois Chiropractic is always ready for such a conversation about McHenry back pain. Back pain is a big health issue upsetting 80% of us in McHenry at some point in life. Back pain is dealt with by many types of physicians in many types of professional societies. Their societal recommendations are similar concerning imaging (Do not perform within the first 6 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 precisely, the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation recommends not ordering repeat epidural steroid injections without checking for the response to the last one and not prescribing opioid drugs for acute disabling low back pain without assessment and a trial of other alternatives. (2) The American Chiropractic Association recommends not performing 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 avoiding long term use 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 unless 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 using EMG studies to figure out the cause of spine pain, and not doing advanced spinal imaging (ex MRI) within 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 continues for 12 weeks regardless of non-surgical treatment. (7) It’s up to you, the McHenry 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 start a conversation with your McHenry chiropractor, your McHenry back pain specialist, at OrthoIllinois Chiropractic as you choose the type of care suitable for your McHenry back pain relief.

 

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

Common McHenry non-surgical interventions for McHenry 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 McHenry 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 increased active care importance as pain reduces – matches 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 pursued by medicine [12]) before advanced imaging or surgical referral in absence of red flags. Bring your McHenry back pain to OrthoIllinois Chiropractic! Make it your first McHenry back pain relief healthcare stop!